This is the 8466th most frequent Russian word.
небольшой
Small; not large.
Here, "небольшой" is used to describe the size of the text, indicating it was relatively short or simple in terms of length.
Перед экзаменом мы прочитали небольшой текст.
Before the exam, we read a small text.
In this sentence, "небольшой" characterizes the problem as insignificant or minor in scale.
У нас возникла небольшая проблема с проектором.
We encountered a minor problem with the projector.
"Небольшой" is employed here to describe the physical size of the vase, suggesting it was diminutive or compact.