minor

1. 1

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

   • of minor importance
   • a minor poet
2. 2

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; Underage, not having reached legal majority.

   • The defendant resides at 123 Fake Street with his partner and two minor children.
3. 3

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; Not serious, not involving risk of death, permanent injury, dangerous surgery, or extended hospitalization.figurativelysometimes

   • She suffered a minor injury.
   • There was minor bruising.
4. 4

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; 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.
5. 5

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; 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.
6. 6

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; 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.specifically

7. 7

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; Of or related to a minor, a secondary area of undergraduate study.CanadaUS

   • The minor requirements only involve about 20 hours of classes.
8. 8

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; Of or related to a minor, a determinate obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns from a matrix.

9. 9

   Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; 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.
10. 10

    Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option; The younger of two pupils (or the middle of three) with the same surname.UKdated

    • He whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes minor,

syn. insignificant and Thesaurus:small

ant. major · antonym(s) of

1. 1

   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.
   • He was only a minor when he succeeded his father to the barony.
2. 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.
3. 3

   Ellipsis of minor interval, minor scale, minor mode, minor key, minor chord, or minor triad.abbreviationalt-ofellipsis

4. 4

   A formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major.CanadaUS

   • I got a minor in English Lit.
5. 5

   A person who is completing or has completed such a course of study.CanadaUSuncommon

   • I became an English minor.
6. 6

   A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns.

   • ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero...
   • 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. 7

   Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun.alt-of

   • He... to þe menours ordre went
8. 8

   Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise.abbreviationalt-ofellipsis

   • 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 lef
9. 9

   Ellipsis of minor league (“the lower level of teams”).abbreviationalt-ofellipsis

   • It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits.
10. 10

    Ellipsis of minor penalty (“a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for 2 minutes unless the opposing team scores”).abbreviationalt-ofellipsis

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

1. 1

   Used in a phrasal verb: minor in.intransitive