As an exercise, I am going thorough I paper I wrote and trying to replace all (or most) adjectives in the form of "very + adjective" with a word. I feel that if done good this would greatly improve my writing.
For example "very small " -> "negligible" . Of course the correct substitution depends on the context.
My point is, where can I find a list of appropriate words?
Searching for "synonimous small" for example does not work, because I want the "very" to be emphasized.
Thank you!
You want to use a thesaurus, and you've made an erroneous assumption in the body of your question:
For example "very small" → "negligible". Of course the correct substitution depends on the context.
My point is, where can I find a list of appropriate words?
Searching for "synonimous [sic] small" for example does not work, because I want the "very" to be emphasized.
Actually, looking at a thesaurus will work, because many synonyms listed for "bland" words will often emphasize the "very" part.
For example Collins has a thesaurus; looking under small shows quite a few words that connote "very small," including the one you list:
little, minute, tiny, slight, mini, miniature, minuscule, diminutive, petite, teeny, puny
unimportant, minor, trivial, insignificant, little, lesser, petty, trifling, negligible
The same goes for the synonyms of big; many of these mean "very big" – either in size, or in importance:
large, great, huge, giant, massive, vast, enormous, considerable, substantial, extensive, immense, spacious, gigantic, monumental, mammoth, bulky, burly, colossal
important, serious, significant, grave, urgent, paramount
and most of the synonyms for cold seem to mean "very cold":
chilly, biting, freezing, bitter, raw, harsh, bleak, arctic, icy, frosty, wintry, frigid
So, open up that thesaurus! I'm sure you'll find that very big book to be very helpful enormous tome to be beneficial.
This image has many examples of replacing very+adjective with just an adjective (if that is what you are asking for.) If you are just looking for words meaning "very small", you can try miniscule, diminutive or minute, among many others.
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