
See also Bigger Is Better, Length Tropes, and Tiny Tropes for other tropes about size. For aerial heights and distances, see Dangerous Heights.
Tall Tropes
- Big Little Brother: The younger sibling is notably taller than their older siblings.
- Expecting Someone Taller: A character's appearance doesn't match up with what was expected of them.
- Gentle Giant: A character who is tall, muscular, and very strong, but is also gentle and kind.
- The Giant: In wrestling, this person is so much larger than everyone else that it's their gimmick.
- Giant Woman: A woman who isn't simply tall, but rather several stories high.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: The work features giants.
- Huge Schoolgirl: A young girl still in school, but is also very large.
- Impossibly Graceful Giant: Instead of being held by by real-world physics, something huge moves with great speed and grace.
- Large and in Charge: The leader of a group is quite large and physically intimidating.
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: When a woman's superior strength is a dealbreaker for a guy.
- Statuesque Stunner: A female character who is both very tall and very pretty.
- Stealthy Colossus: Something ginormous manages to be quiet and sneaky despite their size.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: A description for an attractive male character—tall, dark-haired (possibly in dark clothing), and very good-looking.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: A character is tall, dark-haired, and constantly being snarky.
- Totem Pole Trench: Two or more children (or just very short people) stack on top of each other, don a trench coat, and pretend to be one adult.
- Weight Taller: When gaining weight increases a character's height as well.
- You Must Be This Tall to Ride: Children are not allowed to ride an amusement park attraction due to being too short.
Short Tropes
- Depraved Dwarf: A little person who also happens to be chock full of malice.
- Little People Are Surreal: Little people appear in a work to bring some level of surrealism to a scene.
- Mister Big: The top authority of a group happens to also be very short.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: When elderly characters are depicted as very short.
- The Napoleon: Someone who is short in height and short in temper.
- Pint-Sized Kid: A child is incredibly short even for their age.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: A character who makes up for their short height with an incredible amount of strength.
- The Short Guy with Glasses: A male character (usually the smartest of the group) is shorter than the others, and wears glasses.
- Shorter Means Smarter: When the smartest character(s) in a work are also the shortest.
- Teens Are Short: To show that a character is a teenager and not an adult, they are noticeably shorter.
- Tiny Schoolboy: When instead of being the height they probably should be, a schoolboy is much, much smaller than their classmates.
- Tiny Tyrannical Girl: A tiny girl who expects absolute authority over everyone else.
Mixed
- At Arm's Length: To hold back a shorter attacker, a taller person just holds them by the head at arm's length.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Two guys—one big, one little—who are paired together.
- Height Angst: Whether it's because they're too tall or too short, a character is very unhappy with their height.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: In a pair (whether platonic or romantic), the guy is very large and the girl is much smaller.
- One Head Taller: A romantic couple have about a head of height between them.
- Scully Box: To make an actor appear taller, they stand on a box outside of the camera's view.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Instead of it being the other way around, the guy is the smaller one, and the girl is much taller.