minor Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a young person of either sex
    tiddler; nipper; tyke; small fry; nestling; youngster; child; fry; shaver; tike; kid.
    • she writes books for children
    • they're just kids
    • `tiddler' is a British term for youngster
  2. adjective 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
  3. adjective lesser in scope or effect
    • had minor differences
    • a minor disturbance
  4. adjective inferior in number or size or amount
    • a minor share of the profits
    • Ursa Minor
  5. adjective of a scale or mode
    • the minor keys
    • in B flat minor
  6. adjective not of legal age
    nonaged; underage.
    • minor children
  7. adjective of lesser seriousness or danger
    • suffered only minor injuries
    • some minor flooding
    • a minor tropical disturbance
  8. adjective of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization
  9. adjective satellite of the younger of two boys with the same family name
    • Jones minor
  10. adjective satellite warranting only temporal punishment
    venial.
    • venial sin
  11. adjective satellite limited in size or scope
    pocket-size; pocket-sized; modest; small; small-scale.
    • a small business
    • a newspaper with a modest circulation
    • small-scale plans
    • a pocket-size country

WordNet

Mi"nor adjective
Etymology
L., a comparative with no positive; akin to AS. min small, G. minder less, OHG. minniro, a., min, adv., Icel. minni, a., minnr, adv., Goth. minniza, a., mins, adv., Ir. & Gael. min small, tender, L. minuere to lessen, Gr. , Skr. mi to damage. Cf. Minish, Minister, Minus, Minute.
Definitions
  1. Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
  2. (Mus.) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a minor third.
Mi"nor noun
Definitions
  1. 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. ✍ In hereditary monarchies, the minority of a sovereign ends at an earlier age than of a subject. The minority of a sovereign of Great Britain ends upon the completion of the eighteenth year of his age.
  2. (Logic) 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.
  3. A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.

Webster 1913