Minor

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: Mi=nor

CIDE DICTIONARY

Minor, a. [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. miny`qein, Skr. mi to damage. Cf. Minish, Minister, Minus, Minute.].

•  Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.  [1913 Webster]
•  Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a minor third.  [1913 Webster]

Minor, n. 

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  " 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."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Minor, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 lesser or comparatively small in size or importance (minor poet; minor operation).
2 Mus. a (of a scale) having intervals of a semitone between the second and third, fifth and sixth, and seventh and eighth degrees. b (of an interval) less by a semitone than a major interval. c (of a key) based on a minor scale, tending to produce a melancholy effect.
3 Brit. (in schools) indicating the younger of two children from the same family or the second to enter the school (usu. put after the name).
4 Logic a (of a term) occurring as the subject of the conclusion of a categorical syllogism. b (of a premiss) containing the minor term in a categorical syllogism.
--n.
1 a person under the legal age limit or majority (no unaccompanied minors).
2 Mus. a minor key etc.
3 US a student's subsidiary subject or course (cf. MAJOR).
4 Logic a minor term or premiss.
--v.intr. (foll. by in) US (of a student) undertake study in (a subject) as a subsidiary to a main subject.

Idiom

in a minor key (of novels, events, people's lives, etc.) understated, uneventful. minor axis Geom. (of a conic) the axis perpendicular to the major axis. minor canon a cleric who is not a member of the chapter, who assists in daily cathedral services. minor league US (in baseball, football, etc.) a league of professional clubs other than the major leagues. minor orders see ORDER. minor piece Chess a bishop or a knight. minor planet an asteroid. minor prophet any of the prophets from Hosea to Malachi, whose surviving writings are not lengthy. minor suit Bridge diamonds or clubs.

Etymology

L, = smaller, less, rel. to minuere lessen

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Minor

adj. Less objectionable.

THESAURUS

Minor

academic specialty, adolescent, area, average, baby, back-burner, boy, budding, callow, casual, child, classical education, common, core curriculum, course, course of study, curriculum, demeaning, dependent, dewy, dinky, disadvantaged, discipline, dispensable, dominant, elective, fair, field, fledgling, general education, general studies, girl, green, growing, hopeful, humanities, humble, immaterial, immature, impubic, in the shade, inappreciable, inconsequential, inconsiderable, indifferent, inessential, inexperienced, infant, inferior, infra dig, ingenuous, innocent, insignificant, intact, irrelevant, juicy, junior, juvenal, juvenile, key, key signature, keynote, lad, laddie, lass, lassie, less, lesser, liberal arts, light, little, low, lower, lowly, major, major key, mediant, mediocre, medium, middling, minute, modest, naive, negligible, new-fledged, nonessential, not vital, obscure, one-horse, ordinary, paltry, pedal point, petit, petty, picayune, piddling, proseminar, pubescent, quadrivium, raw, refresher course, ripening, sapling, sappy, schoolboy, schoolgirl, scientific education, second rank, second string, second-rate, secondary, seminar, servile, shoestring, slight, slip, small, small-beer, small-fry, small-time, smaller, specialty, sprig, stripling, study, sub, subaltern, subdiscipline, subdominant, subject, submediant, subordinate, subservient, subsidiary, subtonic, supertonic, technical, technical education, teenager, teener, teenybopper, tender, third rank, third string, tonality, tonic, tonic key, trifling, trivial, trivium, two-bit, unadult, underage, underprivileged, undeveloped, undistinguished, unessential, unfledged, unformed, unimportant, unimpressive, unlicked, unmellowed, unnoteworthy, unnoticeable, unripe, unseasoned, vernal, virginal, vulgar, ward, young hopeful, young person, younger, youngest, youngling, youngster, youth

ROGET THESAURUS

Minor

Inferiority

N inferiority, minority, subordinacy, shortcoming, deficiency, minimum, smallness, imperfection, lower quality, lower worth, commonalty, inferior, smaller, small, minor, less, lesser, deficient, minus, lower, subordinate, secondary, secondrate, sub, subaltern, thrown into the shade, weighed in the balance and found wanting, not fit to hold a candle to, can't hold a candle to, least, smallest &c (little) (small), lowest, diminished, reduced, unimportant, less, under the mark, below the mark, below par, at the bottom of the scale, at a low ebb, at a disadvantage, short of, under.

Infant

N infant, babe, baby, babe in arms, nurseling, suckling, yearling, weanling, papoose, bambino, kid, vagitus, child, bairn, little one, brat, chit, pickaninny, urchin, bantling, bratling, elf, youth, boy, lad, stripling, youngster, youngun, younker, callant, whipster, whippersnapper, whiffet, schoolboy, hobbledehoy, hopeful, cadet, minor, master, scion, sap, seedling, tendril, olive branch, nestling, chicken, larva, chrysalis, tadpole, whelp, cub, pullet, fry, callow, codlin, codling, foetus, calf, colt, pup, foal, kitten, lamb, lambkin, aurelia, caterpillar, cocoon, nymph, nympha, orphan, pupa, staddle, girl, lass, lassie, wench, miss, damsel, demoiselle, maid, maiden, virgin, hoyden, infantine, infantile, puerile, boyish, girlish, childish, babyish, kittenish, baby, newborn, unfledged, new-fledged, callow, in the cradle, in swaddling clothes, in long clothes, in arms, in leading strings, at the breast, in one's teens.