English

Adverb

a small matter

1. (obsolete) Somewhat; slightly; a little.
   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, Dialogue 2:

     ... if that it were possible to remove the impediment of the Air, which resisting penetration, doth some small matter retard and impede the motion of the pendulum.

   • 1788 Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society) 79.4:

     The socket and spindle being a small matter taper.

Related terms

• a little matter
• a matter
• some little matter
• some small matter

References

• J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.