Biggish
- Is it a big announcement or rather a biggish one?
(It's a question put to the interlocutor by the radio host.)
How should the adjective "biggish" be located on the adjectival comparative scale? Or, is it outside of that scale, just being a figure of speech expressing irony?
Top answer
Loosely speaking: smallest smaller small smallish regular size biggish big bigger biggest
- Loosely speaking: smallest smaller small smallish regular size biggish big bigger biggest
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
Loosely speaking:
smallest
smaller
small
smallish
regular size
biggish
big
bigger
biggest
0Ending words with ish is a feature of casual English.
eg He was a biggish man.
eg She wore a blueish skirt
eg That's an office-ish kind of outfit you are wearing.
eg She had a girlish laugh.
But please note that if you say this kind of thing a lot, your English will start to sound a bit silly-ish.
(I don't see anything ironic in saying 'biggish'.
0"Is it a big announcement or rather a biggish one?" means: Is it a big announcement, or not a big announcement but something less than a big announcement. That is, "biggish" is less big than "big". Other examples of this comparison:
Two fishermen comparing their catches:
A: "I got a big one. How about you?"
B: "Mine was, er...., biggish (that is, not big, but sort
0
Related Questions