Minor
['maɪnə] or ['maɪnɚ]
Definition
(adj.) limited in size or scope; 'a small business'; 'a newspaper with a modest circulation'; 'small-scale plans'; 'a pocket-size country' .
(adj.) inferior in number or size or amount; 'a minor share of the profits'; 'Ursa Minor' .
(adj.) lesser in scope or effect; 'had minor differences'; 'a minor disturbance' .
(adj.) not of legal age; 'minor children' .
(adj.) of a scale or mode; 'the minor keys'; 'in B flat minor' .
(adj.) of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization .
(adj.) of lesser importance or stature or rank; 'a minor poet'; 'had a minor part in the play'; 'a minor official'; 'many of these hardy adventurers were minor noblemen'; 'minor back roads' .
(adj.) of lesser seriousness or danger; 'suffered only minor injuries'; 'some minor flooding'; 'a minor tropical disturbance' .
(adj.) warranting only temporal punishment; 'venial sin' .
(adj.) of the younger of two boys with the same family name; 'Jones minor' .
Typed by Duane--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
(a.) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a minor third.
(n.) A person of either sex who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded; an infant; in England and the United States, one under twenty-one years of age.
(n.) The minor term, that is, the subject of the conclusion; also, the minor premise, that is, that premise which contains the minor term; in hypothetical syllogisms, the categorical premise. It is the second proposition of a regular syllogism, as in the following: Every act of injustice partakes of meanness; to take money from another by gaming is an act of injustice; therefore, the taking of money from another by gaming partakes of meanness.
(n.) A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.
Editor: Natasha
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Less, smaller.[2]. Inferior, subordinate.[3]. Inconsiderable, petty.
Checked by Llewellyn
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Less, inferior, junior, younger, unimportant
ANT:Major, greater, superior, elder, senior, main, important
Inputed by Carlo
Definition
adj. smaller: less: inferior in importance degree bulk &c.: inconsiderable: lower: (mus.) smaller by a semitone.—n. a person under age (21 years): (logic) the term of a syllogism which forms the subject of the conclusion.—n. Mī′norite a Franciscan friar.—adj. belonging to the Franciscans.—n. Minor′ity the state of being under age (also Mī′norship): the smaller of two parts of a number: a number less than half:—opp. to Majority.—Minor canon a canon of inferior grade who assists in performing the daily choral service in a cathedral; Minor mode or scale the mode or scale in music which has the third note only three semitones above the key; Minor premise the premise which contains the minor term; Minor prophets the name given to the twelve prophets from Hosea to Malachi inclusive.
Checked by Clifton
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. Less objectionable.
Inputed by Diego
Examples
- I heard one of the young men tell another that he knew I'd been an actress, in fact, he thought he remembered seeing me at one of the minor theaters. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- It passed by Armenia to Asia Minor, Egypt, and North Africa. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- To-day the friction match is turned out by automatic machinery by the million, and constitutes probably the most ubiquitous and useful of all the minor inventions. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Well, well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Was there not the geography of Asia Minor, in which her slackness had often been rebuked by Mr. Casaubon? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The final end of life is fixed; given a state framed with this end in view, not even minor details are to be altered. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- I mean any minor point. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Love had come, as the rod of the master-prophet, to swallow up every minor propensity. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Many minor improvements have been made in the storage battery, covered by 716 United States patents, most of which relate to cellular construction for holding the mass of red lead in place. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- In some men it is half-conscious, in others a minor influence, but almost no one of weight escapes the contagion of it entirely. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- There are one or two minor points which were brought out in the inquest, and which are worth considering. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- When the minor came to de of age, another tax, called relief, was still due to the superior, which generally amounted likewise to a year's rent. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- She seems a minor, and must therefore be at our royal disposal in marriage. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Well, a kind of minor king, such as Odysseus might have been. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- He is lying thus, apparently forgetful of his newer and minor surprise, when the housekeeper returns, accompanied by her trooper son. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Checker: Roberta