SMALL CHANGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does small change mean? 

• SMALL CHANGE (noun)
  The noun SMALL CHANGE has 1 sense:

1. a trifling sum of money

  Familiarity information: SMALL CHANGE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SMALL CHANGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A trifling sum of money

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

chickenfeed; chump change; small change

Hypernyms ("small change" is a kind of...):

cash; hard cash; hard currency (money in the form of bills or coins)

 Context examples 

People with only a small change in the gene might not show any signs of Fragile X. People with bigger changes can have severe symptoms.

(Fragile X Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

Kepler measurements of starlight infer the spin rate of a star by picking up small changes in its brightness.

(Kepler Watches Stellar Dancers in the Pleiades Cluster, NASA)

But even a small change in the disposition of the weight will produce violent changes in the behaviour of a coracle.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In addition to some small change (and I have a good memory for such things), it had contained one hundred and eighty-five dollars in gold and paper.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Participants randomly assigned to a “small-changes” group focused on making daily small changes in diet and physical activity to prevent weight gain.

(Strategies successfully reduce weight gain in young adults, NIH)

Joe shot a hand into his hip pocket and brought it out filled with small change.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Ultimately the system will be able to detect small changes in the stress and strain of the Earth's crust, said Tim Dixon, a marine scientist at the university.

(Geoscientists develop technology to improve forecasting of earthquakes, tsunamis, National Science Foundation)

For events or objects that are difficult to see (a gray chair in a dark room, for example), small changes in the amount of visual information available and recorded in the brain can be the difference between tripping over the chair or successfully avoiding it.

(Researchers discover neural code that predicts behavior, National Institutes of Health)

By comparing the jaw shape of snapping ants with biting ants, we also learned that it only took small changes in shape for the jaws to evolve a new function: acting as a spring.

(Dracula Ant Found to Be Fastest Creature on Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

There is much work to be done in preventing heart disease, but we also know that better dietary habits can improve our health quickly, and we can act on that knowledge by making and building on small changes that add up over time.

(How dietary factors influence disease risk, NIH)