Meaning & use
Lilliput
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Meaning
proper nounproperliterary
The imaginary island in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, where the people are about six inches tall.
Grammar: Always capitalized and used without an article: Gulliver arrives in Lilliput.
Patterns
- the people of Lilliput
- a visit to Lilliput
In the story, Gulliver wakes up on the shore of Lilliput, tied down by tiny ropes.
The emperor of Lilliput was only as tall as Gulliver's finger.
Children often learn about Lilliput from picture-book versions of the tale.
Common combinations
- the land of Lilliput
- Gulliver is a giant in the land of Lilliput.
- the emperor of Lilliput
- The emperor of Lilliput fought a war over how to crack eggs.
- people of Lilliput
- The people of Lilliput are tiny compared with Gulliver.
- Lilliput and Brobdingnag
- Lilliput and Brobdingnag are two places in the same book.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Lilliputian
- Lilliputian is the adjective or noun for a person from Lilliput or for anything tiny, while Lilliput itself names the place.
- miniature world
- Miniature world is a plain phrase for any small-scale setting, but Lilliput refers to Swift's story.
Opposites
Word family
- Lilliputian adjective
- extremely small, or relating to Lilliput
- Lilliputian noun
- a very small person or one of the people of Lilliput
- Brobdingnag proper noun
- the land of giants that Gulliver visits next
- Gulliver proper noun
- the traveler who visits Lilliput in the story
Practice
In Gulliver's Travels, which island is home to tiny people only about six inches tall?
Choose one answer.
Lilliput is the island of tiny people in the story. Brobdingnag is the land of giants, Laputa is a floating island, and Utopia comes from a different book.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Lilliput”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.