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minor definition

Overview

This page has 47 definitions of minor with English translations in 7 languages. Minor is an adjective, noun and verb. Examples of how to use minor in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .

See also: Minor, minör, and minôr

English minor definition

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English minor, menor, menour, &c., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, &c. Doublet of minus but not mini-. Cognate with minister, minify, Minorca, Menshevik, and possibly minnow. Compare Latin minimum and minuō, Old High German minniro, Cornish minow.

Pronunciation

Adjective

minor (comparative more minor, superlative most minor)

  1. Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option, particularly:
    • 1551, Thomas Wilson, The Rule of Reason..., sig. F8:
      Here we se thre proposicions, or sentences, whereof the first is called Maior, that is to saie, the proposicion at large. the seconde is called Minor, that is to saie, the seuerall proposicion. the thirde is called conclusio.
    • 1819 January 2, John Keats, letter:
      It is my intention to wait a few years before I publish any minor poems.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page viii:
      There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.
    of minor importance
    1. (law) Underage, not having reached legal majority.
      The defendant resides at 123 Fake Street with his partner and two minor children.
    2. (medicine, sometimes figuratively) Not serious, not involving risk of death, permanent injury, dangerous surgery, or extended hospitalization.
      • 1899 October, Edward Pollock Anshutz, Homoepathic Envoy, Vol. 10, No. 8, p. 58:
        We now know on authority of Dr. Briggs that every case of vaccination is "a minor case of smallpox," and that every such case of smallpox "should be carefully watched until all danger is passed".
      She suffered a minor injury... There was minor bruising... He has a minor case of puppy love...
    3. (music) Smaller by a diatonic semitone than the equivalent major interval.
      • 1653, Lord Brouncker translating Rene Descartes as Excellent Compendium of Musick, p. 30:
        ...a certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism...
      The interval between C and E♭ is a minor third while C to E is a major third.
    4. (music) Incorporating a minor third interval above the (in scales) tonic or (in chords) root note, (also figuratively) tending to produce a dark, discordant, sad, or pensive effect.
      • 1772, William Jones, "On the Arts, Commonly Called Imitative", Poems..., p. 209:
        The minor mode of D is tender.
      • 1843 March, United States Magazine & Democratic Review, p. 273:
        The first chorus: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’, with its dark minor chords, brings threatening clouds over us.
      • 1880, Edmund Gurney, The Power of Sound, p. 271:
        Modern harmonists are unwilling to acknowledge that the minor triad is less consonant than the major.
      • 1948 November, J.M. Barbour, "Music and Ternary Continued Fractions", American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 55, No. 9, p. 545:
        After harmony was introduced into music during the late Middle Ages, major and minor triads emerged as the principal chords. The major triad, as C E G, was regarded with especial favor, because it occurs naturally in the harmonic series, as on bugles, and can be expressed by the simple ratios, 4:5:6. A system of tuning for the diatonic scale known today as just intonation gained support in the 16th century, because its principal triads, C E G, F A C, and G B D, had these just ratios. But an important minor triad, D F A, is harsh in just intonation, and other unsatisfactory triads result when this tuning is extended to the complete chromatic scale.
      • 1951, Carson McCullers, "The Sojourner", O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951, p. 200:
        The first voice of the fugue that Elizabeth had played... came to him, inverted mockingly and in a minor key.
      • 1984, Christopher Guest & al., This Is Spin̈al Tap:
        Tufnel: It's part of a trilogy, really, a musical trilogy that I'm doing in D... minor which I always find is really the saddest of all keys, really. I don't know why but it makes people weep instantly to play it... This piece is called "Lick My Love Pump".
      • 1995 October 23, John Walsh, "The Pragmatic Entertainer Who Said the Unsayable", The Independent, p. 3:
        He was a moralist in a minor key, more concerned that people should say ‘tinned peaches’ and not ‘tin peaches’, than that they should worry about nuclear disarmament.
      Beethoven's melancholy Moonlight Sonata is scored in the key of C# minor, using the diatonic scale C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, and B, but modulates throughout.
    5. (Canada, US, education) Of or related to a minor, a secondary area of undergraduate study.
      The minor requirements only involve about 20 hours of classes.
    6. (mathematics) Of or related to a minor, a determinate obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns from a matrix.
    7. (logic) Acting as the subject of the second premise of a categorical syllogism, which then also acts as the subject of its conclusion.
      The minor term of John Stuart Mill's famous syllogism—usually mistakenly credited to Aristotle—is Socrates; the major term is mortal.
    8. (UK, dated) The younger of two pupils with the same surname.
      • c. 1593, Henry Chettle, Kind-harts Dreame, sig. C2:
        He whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes minor,
        And he whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes maior.
      • 1978, John Innes Mackintosh Stewart, Full Term, p. 250:
        Espionage... was a field that had sophisticated itself since the distant time when Patullo Minor... had enthralled his school-fellows with his hazardous escapades.
    9. (music, historical) Of or related to the relationship between the longa and the breve in a score.
      • 1779, William Waring translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau as Complete Dictionary of Music, p. 243:
        The minor perfect mode was marked by one single line which crossed three spaces, and the longue was equal to three breves... The minor imperfect mode was marked by a line which crossed two spaces only, and its longue was equal only to two breves.
    10. (music, historical) Having semibreves twice as long as a minim.
      • 1969, Arthur Mendel, "Some Preliminary Attempts at Computer-Assisted Style Analysis in Music", Computers and the Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 45:
        Josquin works in minor prolation—that is, works in which the signature indicates that a semibreve is equal to two minims, often have a 3 as a medial signature for a few measures, indicating that until the 3 is canceled by the reappearance of a sign for minor prolation, there are to be 3 minims to a semibreve.
    11. (politics, obsolete) Of or related to a minority party.
      • 1642, Charles I, His Majesties Answer to a Printed Book Entituled A Remonstrance..., p. 13:
        ...that the Minor part of the Lords might joyn with the Major part of the House of Commons...
      • 1796 December 27, Thomas Jefferson, letter:
        In every other, the minor will be preferred by me to the major vote.

Usage notes

In music and some educated contexts (particularly in borrowings directly from Latin), used as a postpositive: E minor, Friars Minor, Rayburn Minor.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

minor (plural minors)

  1. (law) A child, a person who has not reached the age of majority, consent, &c. and is legally subject to fewer responsibilities and less accountability and entitled to fewer legal rights and privileges.
    No, he can't get a mortgage or sell the house. He's still a minor. For the most part, he can't sign a legally binding contract.
  2. A lesser person or thing, a person, group, or thing of minor rank or in the minor leagues.
    • 1821, Pierce Egan, Real Life in London..., Vol. I, p. 92:
      Mr Gloss'em, who is a shining character in the theatrical world, at least among the minors of the metropolis.
    He plays in the minors... She hasn't won a minor since the Sichuan Open... The play is considered one of his minors...
  3. (music) Ellipsis of minor interval, scale, mode, key, chord, triad, &c.
  4. (Canada, US, education) A formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major.
    I got a minor in English Lit.
  5. (Canada, US, education, uncommon) A person who is completing or has completed such a course of study.
    I became an English minor.
  6. (mathematics) A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns.
    • 1850, James Joseph Sylvester, London, Edinburgh, & Dublin Philosophical Magazine..., Vol. 37, p. 366:
      ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero...
    • 1986, C.W. Norman, Undergraduate Algebra, p. 315:
      Let A be a non-zero matrix of rank r over a field. Then A has a non-zero r-minor and all s-minors of A are zero for s > r.
  7. (Catholicism) Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun.
    • 1447, Osbern Bokenham, Legendys of Hooly Wummen, l. 10520:
      He... to þe menours ordre went
  8. (logic) Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise.
  9. (baseball) Ellipsis of minor league: the lower level of teams.
    • 1890 July 31, Sporting Life, Philadelphia, p. 1:
      It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits.
  10. (ice hockey) Ellipsis of minor penalty: a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for 2 minutes unless the opposing team scores.
    • 1924 December 30, Gazette, Montreal, p. 14:
      Penalties... First Period... all minors.
  11. (Australian football) Synonym of behind: a one-point kick.
    • 1903 May 16, Sporting News, Tasmania, p. 4:
      Brown from a mark on the magazine wing put up the first minor.
  12. (rugby, historical) Ellipsis of minor point: a lesser score formerly gained by certain actions.
    • 1883 February 5, York Herald, p. 8:
      At half-time the score was—one goal, three tries, and four minors.
  13. (bridge) Ellipsis of minor suit; a card of a minor suit.
    • 1927, Milton Cooper Work, Contract Bridge, p. 11:
      Many find it easier to remember 20 for Minors, 30 for Majors and 35 for No Trump.
  14. (entomology) Any of various noctuid moths in Europe and Asia, chiefly in the Oligia and Mesoligia genera.
  15. (entomology) A leaf-cutter worker ant intermediate in size between a minim and a media.
  16. (campanology) Changes rung on six bells.
  17. (Scotland law, obsolete) An adolescent, a person above the legal age of puberty but below the age of majority.
  18. (mathematics, rare, obsolete) Synonym of subtrahend, the amount subtracted from a number.
  19. (UK, rare, obsolete) The younger brother of a pupil.
    • 1864, Eton School Days, p. 82:
      Let my minor pass, you fellows!... Here, Chudleigh, just make room there.

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

minor (third-person singular simple present minors, present participle minoring, simple past and past participle minored) (intransitive)

  1. Used in a phrasal verb: minor in.

Translations

Translations

References

Anagrams

Indonesian minor definition

Etymology

From Latin minor.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈminɔr]
  • Hyphenation: mi‧nor

Adjective

minor

  1. minor.
    Antonym: mayor

Related terms

 

Further reading

Interlingua minor definition

Pronunciation

Adjective

minor (not comparable)

  1. (comparative degree of parve) smaller

Adjective

le minor

  1. the smallest

Synonyms

Italian minor definition

Adjective

minor (apocopated)

  1. Apocopic form of minore

Anagrams

Latin minor definition

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *minwōs, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Doublet of minuō.

Adjective

minor (neuter minus, positive parvus); third declension

  1. comparative degree of parvus:
    1. less, lesser, inferior, smaller
    2. cheaper
    3. younger
Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative minor minus minōrēs minōra
Genitive minōris minōrum
Dative minōrī minōribus
Accusative minōrem minus minōrēs minōra
Ablative minōre minōribus
Vocative minor minus minōrēs minōra
Antonyms
Descendants
Descendants of minor in other languages

Noun

minor m (genitive minōris); third declension

  1. subordinate, minor, inferior in rank
  2. person under age (e.g. 25 years old), minor
    1. (poetic, in the plural) children; descendants, posterity
      29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.532–533:
      nunc fama minores Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem.
      now there is a rumor that a later people called the land Italy from the name of their leader.
Inflection

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative minor minōrēs
Genitive minōris minōrum
Dative minōrī minōribus
Accusative minōrem minōrēs
Ablative minōre minōribus
Vocative minor minōrēs

Etymology 2

From minae (“threats, menaces”) +‎ -ō (verbal suffix). Doublet of minō.

Verb

minor (present infinitive minārī, perfect active minātus sum); first conjugation, deponent

  1. (literally, poetic) I jut forth, protrude, project
  2. (transferred sense) [+ablative] I threaten, menace
Inflection
   Conjugation of minor (first conjugation, deponent)
indicative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present minor mināris,
mināre 		minātur mināmur mināminī minantur
imperfect minābar minābāris,
minābāre 		minābātur minābāmur minābāminī minābantur
future minābor mināberis,
minābere 		minābitur minābimur minābiminī minābuntur
perfect minātus + present active indicative of sum
pluperfect minātus + imperfect active indicative of sum
future perfect minātus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive singular plural
first second third first second third
active present miner minēris,
minēre 		minētur minēmur minēminī minentur
imperfect minārer minārēris,
minārēre 		minārētur minārēmur minārēminī minārentur
perfect minātus + present active subjunctive of sum
pluperfect minātus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present — mināre — — mināminī —
future — minātor minātor — — minantor
non-finite forms active passive
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives minārī minātum esse minātūrum esse — — —
participles mināns minātus minātūrus — — minandus
verbal nouns gerund supine
genitive dative accusative ablative accusative ablative
minandī minandō minandum minandō minātum minātū
Derived terms
 
Descendants
Descendants of minor in other languages

References

  • (adjective) “minor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • (verb) “minor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “minor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • minor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • minor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to be not yet twenty: minorem esse viginti annis
    • to be indisposed: leviter aegrotare, minus valere
  • “minor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “minor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Romanian minor definition

Etymology

From French mineur, from Latin minor.

Adjective

minor m or n (feminine singular minoră, masculine plural minori, feminine and neuter plural minore)

  1. minor

Declension

Declension of minor
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite minor minoră minori minore
definite minorul minora minorii minorele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite minor minore minori minore
definite minorului minorei minorilor minorelor

Swedish minor definition

Noun

minor

  1. indefinite plural of mina.
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