nutshell

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: nut=shell

CIDE DICTIONARY

nutshell, n. 

•  The shell or hard external covering in which the kernel of a nut is inclosed.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, a thing of little compass, or of little value.  [1913 Webster]
•  A shell of the genus Nucula.  [1913 Webster]

in a nutshell in a summarized and very abbreviated form; -- of statments, descriptions, reports, and other communications; as, to describe the convention in a nutshell. -- To be in a nutshell or To lie in a nutshell, , to be within a small compass; to admit of very brief or simple determination or statement. “The remedy lay in a nutshell.” Macaulay.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

nutshell, n. the hard exterior covering of a nut.

Idiom

in a nutshell in a few words.

THESAURUS

nutshell

abridge, ace, atom, bit, brief, capsule, capsulize, condense, dab, digest, dole, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, dwarf, farthing, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, gobbet, grain, granule, groat, hair, handful, inventory, iota, jot, little, little bit, minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, modicum, molecule, mote, ounce, outline, particle, pebble, pinch, pittance, point, scruple, shorten, sketch, sketch out, smidgen, smitch, speck, spoonful, spot, sum, sum up, summarize, summate, synopsize, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trivia, whit

ROGET THESAURUS

nutshell

Smallness

N smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance), mediocrity, moderation, small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum, vanishing point, material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace, minutiae, details, look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow, spark, scintilla, gleam, touch, cast, grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture, inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive, snip, snippet, snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag, chip, chipping, shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair, nutshell, thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful, fragment, fraction, drop in the ocean, animalcule, trifle, mere nothing, next to nothing, hardly anything, just enough to swear by, the shadow of a shade, finiteness, finite quantity, small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, inconsiderable, paltry, faint, slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited, meager, sparing, few, low, so-so, middling, tolerable, no great shakes, below par, under par, below the mark, at a low ebb, halfway, moderate, modest, tender, subtle, inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small, atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic, mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare, near run, dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent, to a small extent, on a small scale, a little bit, a wee bit, slightly, imperceptibly, miserably, wretchedly, insufficiently, imperfectly, faintly, passably, pretty well, well enough, partially, in part, in a certain degree, to a certain degree, to a certain extent, comparatively, some, rather in some degree, in some measure, something, somewhat, simply, only, purely, merely, at least, at the least, at most, at the most, ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu, in ever so small a degree, thus far, pro tanto, within bounds, in a manner, after a fashion, so to speak, almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but, near upon, close upon, peu s'en faut, near the mark, within an ace of, within an inch of, on the brink of, scarcely, hardly, barely, only just, no more than, about, thereabouts, somewhere about, nearly, say, be the same, be little more or less, no ways, no way, no wise, not at all, not in the least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow, in no wise, in no respect, by no means, by no manner of means, on no account, at no hand, dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, small sands the mountain, moments make the year.