Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small amount of something.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small or moderate quantity; a scanty or meager allowance; a limited amount or degree.
- noun Any small thing; a diminutive person.
- noun Something eaten to provoke thirst.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A little; a small quantity; a measured supply.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
small ,modest ortrifling amount .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a small or moderate or token amount
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I love the word modicum, thanks for using it in your post.
Gender on the Tee Ball Field Becca 2006
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I’m not sure it’s unfair to presume that one comes to that job with a certain modicum of confidence in one’s own judgment.
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Youth would not understand it were it to speak a modicum of its thoughts.
Over the Fireside with Silent Friends Richard King 1913
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This is not a woman who has displayed any kind of modicum of sensibility or anything.
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Long-term outcomes showed no significant differences, as long as there was even a "modicum" of such things as loving, setting of rules and teaching.
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The Omniscient One is certainly possessed of an amount of knowledge equal to that small modicum which is all that a rational and immortal soul can boast of in reference to itself.
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"modicum" of Arab unity before a potentially hawkish new Israeli cabinet, Safa said.
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As the century waned, the glamorous old-style safari, which could be defined as “traveling by caravan to rough it near wildlife in Africa, but not without access to a porcelain tea set,” had been replaced by the peppy new-style safari, “nature travel anywhere, so long as it involves unconventional transport and a modicum of hazard offset by pampering.”
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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However, that highly religious person would likely find consensus with anyone who has a modicum of religious belief.
American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010
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As the century waned, the glamorous old-style safari, which could be defined as “traveling by caravan to rough it near wildlife in Africa, but not without access to a porcelain tea set,” had been replaced by the peppy new-style safari, “nature travel anywhere, so long as it involves unconventional transport and a modicum of hazard offset by pampering.”
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
kingparton commented on the word modicum
I have my health, a choice of books, needlework and good weather—with only a modicum of good sense, one should go a long way like that.
Frances Mossiker, Madame de Sévigné
August 25, 2011