diminute

English

Etymology

From Middle English diminute, from Latin dīminūtus and Old French diminut.

Pronunciation

Adjective

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪmɪnjuːt/, /ˈdɪmɪnuːt/

Verb

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɪnjuːt/, /dɪˈmɪnuːt/

Adjective

diminute (comparative more diminute, superlative most diminute)

1. (obsolete) Small; diminutive.
   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […].] ”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1654, →OCLC:

     prices made diminute and lessened to such proportions and abatements as that fault should make

Verb

diminute (third-person singular simple present diminutes, present participle diminuting, simple past and past participle diminuted)

1. To lead to diminution, to lessen.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “diminute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• mutinied

Latin

Participle

dīminūte

1. vocative masculine singular of dīminūtus

References

• diminute 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)