"a mite" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "a"
      },
      "expansion": "a",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mite",
        "3": "",
        "4": "minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle"
      },
      "expansion": "mite (“minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From a + mite (“minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "a mite (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "a lot"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "[1870], [Frederick William Robinson], “The Young Guardian”, in Owen:—A Waif (Select Library of Fiction), new edition, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (Battle-ground), page 117",
          "text": "\"I hope Mary has been the best of girls?\" / \"The bestest little girl, Sir—a mite too lively, perhaps, especially when she hears you're coming to see her,[…].[\"]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1956, Janice Holt Giles, chapter 8, in Hannah Fowler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, page 69",
          "text": "\"Silas, now,\" Esther Whitley had said, \"would be a good one for you, Hannah. He's a mite on the old side, but he's steady, an' he's been wed before. He knows the ways of a woman better'n some.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1959, Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance, Chicago, Ill.: Rand McNally, →OCLC; Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance (ReadHowYouWant Classics Library), EasyRead large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant, 2008, page 30",
          "text": "Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 November 29, Brian Taylor, “Brexit and sellers of fish”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2019-06-26",
          "text": "Words, words, words, bemoans Hamlet, in conversation with the garrulous but inconsequential Polonius, whom he labels a \"seller of fish\". Given that the Prince of Denmark is himself legendary for vacillation and inaction, this always seemed a mite cheeky to me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 October 4, Jason Zinoman, “The ’90s Cartoon That Mattered? ‘Beavis and Butt-Head.’ (Fight Me.)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "The new show’s look is a mite slicker and the comic situations are set up and executed better, including Episode 1 in which Beavis and Butt-Head mistake an escape room’s bathroom for the place they need to escape.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 May 13, John Naughton, “A moment’s silence, please, for the death of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse”, in The Observer, →ISSN",
          "text": "In those circumstances, you’d have thought someone who had just blown $36bn of his company’s money in the pursuit of a personal obsession would have been a mite apologetic, wouldn’t you?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To a small extent; in a small amount; rather."
      ],
      "id": "en-a_mite-en-adv-2DmZeSyW",
      "links": [
        [
          "small",
          "small"
        ],
        [
          "extent",
          "extent"
        ],
        [
          "amount",
          "amount"
        ],
        [
          "rather",
          "rather"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To a small extent; in a small amount; rather."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "a bit"
        },
        {
          "word": "a little"
        },
        {
          "word": "a little bit"
        },
        {
          "word": "a tad"
        },
        {
          "word": "a smidgen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ə ˈmaɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ə ˈmʌɪt]",
      "tags": [
        "Canada"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪt"
    }
  ],
  "word": "a mite"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "a"
      },
      "expansion": "a",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mite",
        "3": "",
        "4": "minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle"
      },
      "expansion": "mite (“minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From a + mite (“minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "a mite (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "a lot"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English adverbs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncomparable adverbs",
        "Rhymes:English/aɪt"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "[1870], [Frederick William Robinson], “The Young Guardian”, in Owen:—A Waif (Select Library of Fiction), new edition, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (Battle-ground), page 117",
          "text": "\"I hope Mary has been the best of girls?\" / \"The bestest little girl, Sir—a mite too lively, perhaps, especially when she hears you're coming to see her,[…].[\"]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1956, Janice Holt Giles, chapter 8, in Hannah Fowler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, page 69",
          "text": "\"Silas, now,\" Esther Whitley had said, \"would be a good one for you, Hannah. He's a mite on the old side, but he's steady, an' he's been wed before. He knows the ways of a woman better'n some.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1959, Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance, Chicago, Ill.: Rand McNally, →OCLC; Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance (ReadHowYouWant Classics Library), EasyRead large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant, 2008, page 30",
          "text": "Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 November 29, Brian Taylor, “Brexit and sellers of fish”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2019-06-26",
          "text": "Words, words, words, bemoans Hamlet, in conversation with the garrulous but inconsequential Polonius, whom he labels a \"seller of fish\". Given that the Prince of Denmark is himself legendary for vacillation and inaction, this always seemed a mite cheeky to me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 October 4, Jason Zinoman, “The ’90s Cartoon That Mattered? ‘Beavis and Butt-Head.’ (Fight Me.)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "The new show’s look is a mite slicker and the comic situations are set up and executed better, including Episode 1 in which Beavis and Butt-Head mistake an escape room’s bathroom for the place they need to escape.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 May 13, John Naughton, “A moment’s silence, please, for the death of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse”, in The Observer, →ISSN",
          "text": "In those circumstances, you’d have thought someone who had just blown $36bn of his company’s money in the pursuit of a personal obsession would have been a mite apologetic, wouldn’t you?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To a small extent; in a small amount; rather."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "small",
          "small"
        ],
        [
          "extent",
          "extent"
        ],
        [
          "amount",
          "amount"
        ],
        [
          "rather",
          "rather"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To a small extent; in a small amount; rather."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "a bit"
        },
        {
          "word": "a little"
        },
        {
          "word": "a little bit"
        },
        {
          "word": "a tad"
        },
        {
          "word": "a smidgen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ə ˈmaɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ə ˈmʌɪt]",
      "tags": [
        "Canada"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪt"
    }
  ],
  "word": "a mite"
}