minor

¹

[mahy-ner]

adjective

1. lesser, as in size, extent, or importance, or being or noting the lesser of two.

   a minor share.

   Synonyms: subordinate, secondary, inferior
   Antonyms: major

2. not serious, important, etc..

   a minor wound; a minor role.

3. having low rank, status, position, etc..

   a minor official.

   Synonyms: small, unimportant, petty

4. under the legal age of full responsibility.

5. Education.,  of or relating to a field of study constituting a student's minor.

6. Music.

   1. (of an interval) smaller by a chromatic half step than the corresponding major interval.

   2. (of a chord) having a minor third between the root and the note next above it.

7. of or relating to the minority.

8. (initial capital letter),  (of two male students in an English public school who have the same surname) being the younger or lower in standing.

   Jackson Minor sits over here.

noun

1. a person under the legal age of full responsibility.

   Synonyms: adolescent, child

2. a person of inferior rank or importance in a specified group, class, etc.

3. Education.

   1. a subject or a course of study pursued by a student, especially a candidate for a degree, subordinately or supplementarily to a major or principal subject or course.

   2. a subject for which less credit than a major is granted in college or, occasionally, in high school.

4. Music.,  a minor interval, chord, scale, etc.

5. Mathematics.,  the determinant of the matrix formed by crossing out the row and column containing a given element in a matrix.

6. (initial capital letter),  Friar Minor.

7. Sports.,  the minors, the minor leagues.

verb (used without object)

1. to choose or study as a secondary academic subject or course.

   to major in sociology and minor in art history.

Minor

²

[mahy-ner]

noun

1. a male given name.

minor

/ ˈmaɪnə /

adjective

1. lesser or secondary in amount, extent, importance, or degree

   a minor poet

   minor burns

2. of or relating to the minority

3. below the age of legal majority

4. music

   1. (of a scale) having a semitone between the second and third and fifth and sixth degrees ( natural minor ) See also harmonic minor scale melodic minor scale

   2. (of a key) based on the minor scale

   3. (postpositive) denoting a specified key based on the minor scale

      C minor

   4. (of an interval) reduced by a semitone from the major

   5. (of a chord, esp a triad) having a minor third above the root

   6. (esp in jazz) of or relating to a chord built upon a minor triad and containing a minor seventh See also minor key minor mode

      a minor ninth

5. logic (of a term or premise) having less generality or scope than another term or proposition

6. education of or relating to an additional secondary subject taken by a student

7. (immediately postpositive) the younger or junior: sometimes used after the surname of a schoolboy if he has an older brother in the same school

   Hunt minor

8. (postpositive) Leisure:Bell-ringing of, relating to, or denoting a set of changes rung on six bells

   grandsire minor

noun

1. a person or thing that is lesser or secondary

2. a person below the age of legal majority

3. education a subsidiary subject in which a college or university student needs fewer credits than in his or her major

4. music a minor key, chord, mode, or scale

5. logic a minor term or premise

6. maths

   1. a determinant associated with a particular element of a given determinant and formed by removing the row and column containing that element

   2. Also called: cofactor.  signed minor. the number equal to this reduced determinant

7. (capital) another name for Minorite

verb

1. education to take a minor

Word History and Origins

Origin of minor¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin: “less, smaller”; akin to Old English min “small,” Old Norse minni “smaller,” Gothic minniza “younger,” Sanskrit mīnāti “(he) diminishes”

Word History and Origins

Origin of minor¹

C13: from Latin: less, smaller; related to Old High German minniro smaller, Gothic minniza least, Latin minuere to diminish, Greek meiōn less

Example Sentences

The composition’s frantic strings and minor chords cleverly emphasize the brilliance of Oliphant’s cartoons depicting the circus of the politically obscene.

From Salon

An infielder, Schaeffer hit .214 over six minor league seasons before retiring as a player to become a minor league manager in the Rockies system.

From Los Angeles Times

On Tuesday, he held a press conference to announce relatively minor news that could have been delivered by an underling: He intended to move U.S.

From Salon

A transport worker was among those killed, while a three-year-old German boy was reported to have escaped with minor injuries.

From BBC

The patient in the ambulance bore the sole injury in the plague of crashes, but the injuries were minor, officials said.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• adolescent 
• baby 
• boy 
• child 
• girl 
• infant 
• junior 
• juvenile 
• teenager 
• youngster 
• youth