modicum
nounUK /ˈmɒdɪkəm/ · US /ˈmɑdɪkəm/
Etymology From Middle English modicum, from Latin modicum (“a little, a small amount”), a noun use of the neuter form of modicus (“moderate; restrained, temperate; reasonable”) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Modicus is derived from modus (“a measure; a bound, limit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). The plural form modica is derived from Latin modica.
1
A modest, small, or trifling amount.
- Unable to garner even a modicum of support for his plan, he conceded to follow the others.
- Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit he vtters, his euaſions haue ears thus long. I haue bobed his braine more then he has beate my bones.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
4 more examples
- He [Clement of Alexandria] ſhewes alſo that it is better (if a man do drinke) to take wine at ſupper than at dinner, yet a little modicum [...].1607, T[homas] W[alkington], “That a Diet is to bee Obserued of Eueryone”, in The Optick Glasse of Hvmors. Or The Touchstone of a Golden Temperature, or the Philosophers Stone to Make a Golden Temper. […], London: […] Iohn Windet for Martin Clerke, […], →OCLC, page 25:
- For as a Poor Man has as Juſt a Title to the ſmall Modicum he enjoys, as has the Rich Man to his large Poſſeſſions; ſo the Travailer has as good a Title to his Money, as has the Robber to his Life.1708 August 8–10, “Q. I desire your Opinions, whether you think it agreeable to the Laws of Humanity to kill a Man, that Assaults us on the High Way.”, in [Aaron Hill and Marshall Smith], editors, The British Apollo, or, Curious Amusements for the Ingenious. […], volume I, number 49, London: […] J. Mayo, […], →OCLC, column 1:
- By the great, also, he [Robert Burns] was treated in the customary fashion, entertained at their tables, and dismissed. Certain modica of pudding and praise are from time to time gladly exchanged for the fascination of his presence, which exchange once effected, the bargain is finished, and each party goes off his several way.1836, [Thomas Carlyle], “Memoir of Burns”, in “The Ettrick Shepherd” [pseudonym; James Hogg] and William Motherwell, editors, The Works of Robert Burns, volume V, Glasgow; Edinburgh: Archibald Fullarton, and Co. […], →OCLC, chapter XII (General Character of Burns), page 227:
- And time would fail us to enumerate the hundreds of lesser spirits who have employed their small modica of light, which they mistook for genius, as lamps allowing them to see their way more clearly down to the chambers of death.1851 August, “Infirmities of Media”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume III, number 15, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 327, column 1:
- Synonyms
82 terms
ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, bit, crumb, glimpse, dab, damn, dash, diddly, glint, dot, spatter, drop, dusting, fleck, glimmer, hint, flip, flyspeck, grain, halfpennyworth, inch, iota, jot, lick, mite, modicum, molecule, morceau, morsel, mote, ooch, ounce, particle, pennyworth, piece, pinch, relish, scantling, semblance, scent, scintilla, scooch, scrap, scruple, shred, skerrick, skoosh, skosh, sliver, smattering, smidge, smidgen, smidget, smidgy, smitch, smithereen, soupçon, spark, speck, speckle, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, tad, tidbit, tidge, tinge, tittle, toddick, touch, trace, trifle, tuppence worth, vestige, whiff, whit- Antonyms
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