dinky

adjective

din·​ky ˈdiŋ-kē 

dinkier; dinkiest

: overly or unattractively small

drives a dinky little car

also, British : attractively small : cute

Synonyms

• bantam
• diminutive
• dwarfish
• fine
• half-pint
• Lilliputian
• little
• pint-size
• pint-sized
• pocket
• pocket-size
• pocket-sized
• puny
• pygmy
• shrimpy
• slight
• small
• smallish
• subnormal
• toylike
• undersized
• undersize

Examples of dinky in a Sentence

I used to drive a dinky little car.

recent college graduates crowding into a dinky New York City apartment

Recent Examples on the Web

Small storage space in the K4 is on the paltry side, as the center console is pretty dinky and the door pockets shallow. —Kristin Shaw, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025

Everyone enjoyed dinky hors d’oeuvres and blinis, and sipped on champagne and Tommy’s margaritas with Don Julio. —Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 16 Feb. 2025

The brightly backlit keyboard (seriously, the lowest of its three settings is fine) has dinky cursor arrow keys that team with the Fn key for Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down. —PCMAG, 8 Feb. 2025

And for some reason, although the Boston mob in Quebec is making collections only from dinky farmers and owners of local businesses, Mike has no connection at all to the only financially flush organization in the province. —Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Scots dink neat

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dinky

• inky
• kinky
• pinkie
• pinky
• slinky
• stinky

Kids Definition

dinky

adjective

din·​ky ˈdiŋ-kē 

dinkier; dinkiest

: very small and unimpressive

a dinky room