Standard Lemma guide

modicum

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmɒdɪkəm/
  • General-American: /ˈmɑdɪkəm/
  • General-American: /-də-/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AA1 D IH0 K AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A modest, small, or trifling amount.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Unable to garner even a modicum of support for his plan, he conceded to follow the others.
  • The constitutional requirement necessitates independent creation plus a modicum of creativity.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: iota, jot, tittle

Antonyms: abundance, battalion, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, brimful, busload, bucketful, bucketload, butt-ton, bumload, buttload, cartload, crapflood, crapload, deal, fuckload, fuckton, fuckwad, gob, great deal, hantle, heap, hecatomb, helluvalot, horseload, lashings, load, lot, mampus, many, mass, metric fuckton, metric shitload, mickle, mountain, muckle, multiplicity, multitude, pile, ream, shedload, shitflood, shitful, shitload, shitton, sight, slew, spadeloads, sum, superflux, ton, trainload, truckload, tun, vaultful, wagonload

2

noun

Meaning 2

a small or moderate or token amount- Ian Jack

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • England still expects a modicum of eccentricity in its artists

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: small indefinite quantity, small indefinite amount

History

Etymology

From Middle English modicum, from Latin modicum (“a little, a small amount”), a noun use of the neuter form of modicus (“moderate; restrained, temperate; reasonable”) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Modicus is derived from modus (“a measure; a bound, limit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). The plural form modica is derived from Latin modica.

Across languages

Translations

70 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: نَزْر (nazr) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Bulgarian: малко количество (malko količestvo) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Bulgarian: минимално количество (minimalno količestvo) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Catalan: borrall — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Catalan: bri — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Catalan: engruna — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Catalan: mica — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Catalan: mínim — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Catalan: pizca — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Chinese Cantonese: 少量 (siu2 loeng6) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Hakka Chinese: 少量 (séu-liong) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Chinese: 少量 (chió-liōng, chió-liāng, sió-liōng) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Chinese Mandarin: 少量 (shǎoliàng) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Czech: trocha — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Czech: troška — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Czech: špetka — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Dutch: beetje — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Dutch: weinigje — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Faroese: lítiô sindur — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Finnish: rahtu — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Finnish: hippu — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Finnish: hiukka — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Finnish: hiven — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • French: minimum — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • French: modicum — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • French: montant modique — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • German: Bisschen — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • German: Hauch — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • German: Spur — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • German: Winzigkeit — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • German: Mindestmaß — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Hungarian: egy kevés — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Hungarian: kevéske — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Hungarian: cseppnyi — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Hungarian: egy csepp/csöpp — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Hungarian: szemernyi — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Italian: un po' di — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Japanese: ちょっぴり (choppiri) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Japanese: 少量 (shōryō) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Latin: modicum — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Māori: kanehe — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Māori: takutakunga — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Māori: taunga — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Polish: odrobina — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Polish: krzta — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Polish: krztyna — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Portuguese: bocadinho — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Portuguese: mínimo — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Portuguese: pingo — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Portuguese: um pouco de — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Romanian: minimum — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Russian: чу́точка (čútočka) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Russian: ма́лость (málostʹ) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Russian: ничтожно коли́чество (ničtožno kolíčestvo) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: ápice — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: resquicio — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: grisma — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: mirrusca — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: mirringa — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: menudencia — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: módico — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Spanish: modicidad — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Swahili: kiasi — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Swedish: gnutta — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Swedish: uns — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Turkish: nebze — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Ottoman Turkish: پارچه (parça) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Ottoman Turkish: آوج (avuc) — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Welsh: mymryn — modest, small, or trifling amount
  • Yiddish: שפּור (shpur) — modest, small, or trifling amount