From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsmall business/firm/farmer etcsmall business/firm/farmer etcBa business that does not involve large amounts of money or does not employ a large number of people grants for small businesses → small
Examples from the Corpus
small business/firm/farmer etc• As a consequence, greater emphasis has been placed upon encouraging locally-based regeneration, and especially upon a revival of small firms.• On March 19 it passed a regulatory reform bill, which is intended to lighten the weight of government on small businesses.• The Northern arm currently caters to the needs of more than 1,000 small businesses.• The people believed, and many of them were putting money into improving their homes, modernizing their small businesses.• Paid holidays are 25 percent fewer in small firms and only half of this allowance is actually taken.• But it also is threatening the livelihoods of many small business operators in San Diego and elsewhere.• Confiscatory taxes and overly complex tax regulations make it exceedingly difficult for small business to perform this basic function.• The company also has expanded its offerings to help large and small businesses use the Internet and private computer networks. 