minor

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See also: Minor and minôr

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin minor (“rather small”)

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

minor (comparative more minor, superlative most minor)

  1. Of little significance or importance.
    The physical appearance of a candidate is a minor factor in recruitment.
    • 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.
  2. (music) Of a scale which has lowered scale degrees three, six, and seven relative to major, but with the sixth and seventh not always lowered
    a minor scale
  3. (music) being the smaller of the two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

minor (plural minors)

  1. A person who is below the age of majority, consent, criminal responsibility or other adult responsibilities and accountabilities.
    It is illegal to sell weapons to minors under the age of eighteen.
  2. A subject area of secondary concentration of a student at a college or university, or the student who has chosen such a secondary concentration.
    I had so many credit hours of English, it became my minor.
    I became an English minor.
  3. (mathematics) determinant of a square submatrix
  4. (British slang, dated) A younger brother (especially at a public school).
  5. (zoology) A small worker in a leaf-cutter ant colony, sized between a minim and a media.
  6. (logic) The term of a syllogism which forms the subject of the conclusion.

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

minor (third-person singular simple present minors, present participle minoring, simple past and past participle minored)

  1. To choose or have an area of secondary concentration as a student in a college or university.
    • I had so many credit hours of English, I decided to minor in it.

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Interlingua[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

minor (not comparable)

  1. (comparative degree of parve) smaller

Adjective[edit]

le minor

  1. the smallest

Synonyms[edit]

Italian[edit]

Adjective[edit]

minor

  1. Apocopic form of minore

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

See minuō.

Adjective[edit]

minor (neuter minus, positive parvus); third declension

  1. comparative degree of parvus; lesser, inferior, smaller
Declension[edit]

Third-declension comparative adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative minor minus minōrēs minōra
Genitive minōris minōrum
Dative minōrī minōribus
Accusative minōrem minus minōrēs minōra
Ablative minōre minōribus
Vocative minor minus minōrēs minōra
Antonyms[edit]
Descendants[edit]

Noun[edit]

minor m (genitive minōris); third declension

  1. subordinate
  2. (in the plural) descendants
Declension[edit]

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative minor minōrēs
Genitive minōris minōrum
Dative minōrī minōribus
Accusative minōrem minōrēs
Ablative minōre minōribus
Vocative minor minōrēs

Etymology 2[edit]

From mina (“a threat”).

Verb[edit]

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

  1. I jut forth, protrude, project
  2. (with dative) I threaten, menace someone with something
Conjugation[edit]
   Conjugation of minor (first conjugation, deponent)
indicative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present minor mināris, mināre minātur mināmur mināminī minantur
imperfect minābar minābāris, minābāre minābātur minābāmur minābāminī minābantur
future minābor mināberis, minābere minābitur minābimur minābiminī minābuntur
perfect minātus + present active indicative of sum
pluperfect minātus + imperfect active indicative of sum
future perfect minātus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive singular plural
first second third first second third
active present miner minēris, minēre minētur minēmur minēminī minentur
imperfect minārer minārēris, minārēre minārētur minārēmur minārēminī minārentur
perfect minātus + present active subjunctive of sum
pluperfect minātus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present — mināre — — mināminī —
future — minātor minātor — — minantor
non-finite forms active passive
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives minārī minātum esse minātūrum esse — — —
participles mināns minātus minātūrus — — minandus
verbal nouns gerund supine
genitive dative accusative ablative accusative ablative
minandī minandō minandum minandō minātum minātū
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  • (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, 1883–1887)
  • minor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], 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

Swedish[edit]

Noun[edit]

minor

  1. indefinite plural of mina
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