idiomatic-languageword-choiceword-request
The country has produced less than 1 percent of the global output. The
country's share of the global output is (very) _____ .
Small, little, tiny, few, low are in my mind. But I don't know what is an idiomatic choice for that context.
I am looking for a word to say that the share in question is very little.
I can't think of multiple single-word elements that are unambiguously scaled (is "sluggish" faster or slower than "plodding"?) but there are certainly phrases that can be used...
normal -> a bit slow -> slow -> slow as molasses -> slower than molasses in January
(I'd be inclined personally to say that "sluggish" is a good substitute for "a bit slow"--it's slower than normal, but not as slow as just plain "slow"--but I'm not at all sure that it would be widely agreed upon.)
Going in the other direction, you could have:
normal -> brisk -> fast -> faster than a speeding bullet -> at the speed of light
There are a few words for this... I think the one that best fits your description is "yes-man":
a person (especially a man) who agrees with everything that someone says : a person who supports the opinions or ideas of someone else in order to earn that person's approval
The first one to come to mind was "toady", which has the added benefit of being a noun and a verb:
Noun: a person who flatters and ingratiates himself or herself in a servile way; sycophant
Verb: to fawn on and flatter (someone)
Sycophant is also a good word:
a person who seeks favor by flattering people of wealth or influence; parasite; toady
There are a bunch of other options, though, including "flunky":
Best Answer
It looks like maybe you are concerned with avoiding words that aren't idiomatic rather than necessarily finding a less obvious word. If that's true, then, of the words you mentioned:
small: Perfectly idiomatic. In the example of being only 1% of global output, I would choose "very small."
little: Less idiomatic in this case. It is natural to say "very little of the global output goes to this country," but not as natural to say "the amount going to this country is very little." On the other hand, it is definitely not wrong, either.
tiny: A good choice. "Tiny" already means "very small", so if you say "very tiny", then maybe you mean .01% or something.
few: This means a different thing. "Few" applies to things you can count, not a share of something. "I have very few marbles."
low: "The country's share of the global output is very low" isn't really bad, but it's not as good as "small", "tiny", "minuscule", or some of the other suggestions. I think the reason is that people think of a share of something as a size or volume, and "low" is more natural for things that are specifically (or metaphorically) heights. It sounds more natural to talk about a low number than a low share.
This is all just my judgement as a native English speaker, and sometimes people differ. But you can't go wrong with "very small" or "tiny."