minor

• (all): miner, maner, minore, minour, mynor, mynour, mynowr (obsolete)
• (postnominal): mi

From Middle English minor, menor, menour, etc., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, etc. 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.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪ.nəɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪnə/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Homophones: miner, mynah (non-rhotic accents)
• Rhymes: -aɪnə(ɹ)

minor (comparative more minor, superlative most minor)

1. Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option, particularly:

   of minor importance

   a minor poet

   • 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.

   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 figurative) Not serious, not involving risk of death, permanent injury, dangerous surgery, or extended hospitalization.

      She suffered a minor injury.

      There was minor bruising.

      He has a minor case of puppy love.

      • 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".

   3. (music) Smaller by a diatonic semitone than the equivalent major interval.

      The musical interval between C and E♭ is a minor third while C to E is a major third.

      • 1653, Rene Descartes, translated by Lord Brouncker, Excellent Compendium of Musick, page 30:

        ...a certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism...

   4. (music) Incorporating a minor third interval above the (in scales) tonic or (in chords) root note, (also figurative) tending to produce a dark, discordant, sad, or pensive effect.

      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.

      • 1772, William Jones, “On the Arts, Commonly Called Imitative”, in Poems..., page 209:

        The minor mode of D is tender.

      • 1843 March, United States Magazine & Democratic Review, page 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, page 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”, in American Mathematical Monthly, volume 55, number 9, page 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”, in O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951, page 200:

        The first voice of the fugue that Elizabeth had played... came to him, inverted mockingly and in a minor key.

      • 1984, Christopher Guest et 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”, in The Independent, page 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.

   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, page 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, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by William Waring, Complete Dictionary of Music, page 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..., page 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.

   12. Having little worth or ability; paltry; mean.
       • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 128:

         And whenever Dre tore her off some money, she always split it up between his kids. She would've felt real minor taking all his cash and spending it on herself, knowing how needy his babies were.

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

• See Thesaurus:insignificant and Thesaurus:small

• (antonym(s) of “most senses”): major
• (antonym(s) of “legally underage”): grown, adult, mature, of age
• (antonym(s) of “medically unthreatening”): serious, grave, severe, dangerous, fatal, life-threatening, acute (informal)

minor (plural minors)

1. (law) A child, a person who has not reached the age of majority, consent, etc. 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.

   • 1612, John Davies, A Discouerie of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Neuer Entirely Subdued..., page 88:

     King Richard the second... for the first tenne yeares of his raigne, was a Minor.

2. A lesser person or thing, a person, group, or thing of minor rank or in the minor leagues.

   He plays in the minors.

   She hasn't won a minor since the Sichuan Open.

   The play is considered one of his minors.

   • 1821, Pierce Egan, Real Life in London..., volume I, page 92:

     Mr Gloss'em, who is a shining character in the theatrical world, at least among the minors of the metropolis.

3. (music) Ellipsis of minor interval, scale, mode, key, chord, triad, etc.
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..., volume 37, page 366:

     ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero...

   • 1986, C.W. Norman, Undergraduate Algebra, page 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.
   • c. 1450, anonymous author, The Clergy May Not Hold Property, page 31:

     And so musten oure clerkis argue whan þai aleggen for her lordeschip þe lyuynge of her patrons & sayntis, & sayen þus: "Seynt thomas & seynt hwe & seynt Swiþune wer þus lordis, & in þis þai suyd cristis lyuynge & his lore; þerfor we may lefulli be þus lordis." And I wote wel þat gabriel schal blow his horne or þai han preuyd þe mynor; þat is, þat þes seyntes or patrons in þis suyden þe lore or þe life of ihesu criste.

9. (baseball) Ellipsis of minor league: the lower level of teams.
   • 1890 July 31, Sporting Life, Philadelphia, page 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, page 14:

      Penalties... First Period... all minors.

11. (Australian football) Synonym of behind: a one-point kick.
    • 1903 May 16, Sporting News, Tasmania, page 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, page 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, page 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. (Scots 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, page 82:

      Let my minor pass, you fellows!... Here, Chudleigh, just make room there.

• (law): adult
• (Scots law): pupil, adult

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.

• “minor, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.
• “minor”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “minor”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Minor in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• Miron, Morin, morin

From Latin minor.

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

minor

1. minor.

   Antonym: mayor

• “minor” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• IPA^(key): /miˈnor/

minor (not comparable)

1. (comparative degree of parve) smaller

le minor

1. the smallest

• (smallest): minime

minor (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of minore

• normi

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.nor/, [ˈmɪnɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.nor/, [ˈmiːnor]

From Proto-Italic *minwōs, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Related to minuō (“to make smaller, to lessen; to grow less”).

minor (neuter minus, positive parvus); third declension

1. comparative degree of parvus:
   1. less, lesser, inferior, smaller
      • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.16:

        Vercingetorix minoribus Caesarem itineribus subsequitur

        Vercingetorix follows Caesar by shorter marches

   2. cheaper
   3. younger

Third-declension comparative adjective.

• maior

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.

Third-declension noun.

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

• minō

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

1. (literally, poetic) to jut forth, protrude, project, tower
2. (transferred sense) [+dative] to threaten, menace
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.162–164:

     Hinc atque hinc vastae rūpēs, geminīque minantur
     in caelum scopulī, quōrum sub vertice lātē
     aequora tūta silent [...].

     On either side of the vast rocky shoreline, twin pinnacles menace in heaven, under whose highpoint[s] the wide, safe waters [lie] calm.
     (Literally, the towering rocks “project into the sky”; poetically, they “menace in heaven” – it is as if the safe harbor is guarded by natural watchtowers.)

   • 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth, De Gestis Britonum VI.305-307:

     Omnes minantur tibi dicuntque se conducturos Aurelium Ambrosium ex Armorico tractu ut te deposito ipsum in regem promoveant.

     They all threaten you, saying they will be bringing from the lands of Brittany Aurelius Ambrosium and when finally dethroned making him in turn the king.

• (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, 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

Borrowed from French mineur, from Latin minor.

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

1. minor

minor

1. indefinite plural of mina