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MINOR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A young person of either sex
Example:
'tiddler' is a British term for youngster
Synonyms:
child; fry; kid; minor; nestling; nipper; shaver; small fry; tiddler; tike; tyke; youngster
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("minor" is a kind of...):
juvenile; juvenile person (a young person, not fully developed)
Meronyms (parts of "minor"):
child's body (the body of a human child)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "minor"):
street child; waif (a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned)
urchin (poor and often mischievous city child)
bambino; toddler; tot; yearling (a young child)
sprog (a child)
silly (a word used for misbehaving children)
kindergartener; kindergartner; preschooler (a child who attends a preschool or kindergarten)
poster child (a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters to raise money for charitable purposes)
picaninny; piccaninny; pickaninny ((ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child)
peanut (a young child who is small for his age)
orphan (a child who has lost both parents)
kiddie; kiddy (informal term for a young child)
imp; monkey; rapscallion; rascal; scalawag; scallywag; scamp (one who is playfully mischievous)
foster-child; foster child; fosterling (a child who is raised by foster parents)
child prodigy; infant prodigy; wonder child (a prodigy whose talents are recognized at an early age)
changeling (a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy)
buster (a robust child)
bairn (a child: son or daughter)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Relatively moderate, limited, or small
Example:
a pocket-size country
Synonyms:
minor; modest; pocket-size; pocket-sized; small; small-scale
Classified under:
Similar:
limited (small in range or scope)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Inferior in number or size or amount
Example:
Ursa Minor
Classified under:
Attribute:
minority (being or relating to the smaller in number of two parts)
Antonym:
major (greater in number or size or amount)
Derivation:
minority (being or relating to the smaller in number of two parts)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lesser in scope or effect
Example:
a minor disturbance
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
major (greater in scope or effect)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Not of legal age
Example:
minor children
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
Antonym:
major (of full legal age)
Derivation:
minority (any age prior to the legal age)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(of a scale or mode) having half steps between the second and third degrees, and (usually) the fifth and sixth degrees, and the seventh and eighth degrees
Example:
in B flat minor
Classified under:
Adjectives
Domain category:
music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)
Antonym:
major ((of a scale or mode) having half steps between the third and fourth degrees and the seventh and eighth degrees)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
major (of the field of academic study in which one concentrates or specializes)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Of lesser importance or stature or rank
Example:
minor back roads
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
insignificant; peanut (of little importance or influence or power; of minor status)
secondary (not of major importance)
Antonym:
major (of greater importance or stature or rank)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Of lesser seriousness or danger
Example:
a minor tropical disturbance
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
major (of greater seriousness or danger)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Warranting only temporal punishment
Example:
venial sin
Synonyms:
minor; venial
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
pardonable (admitting of being pardoned)
Domain category:
divinity; theology (the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Of the younger of two boys with the same family name
Example:
Jones minor
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
junior (younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service)
Domain region:
Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Have as one's secondary field of study
Example:
in collee she minored in mathematics
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Hypernyms (to "minor" is one way to...):
study (be a student; follow a course of study; be enrolled at an institute of learning)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s PP
Context examples:
Minor and serious breast problems have similar symptoms.
(Breast Diseases, NIH: National Cancer Institute)
However, the discovery of the fossils — from Galatiadelphys minor and Orhaniyeia nauta — indicate that an island's geological context is more important to influencing changes in animal movement and evolution.
(Fossil discovery adds to understanding of how geological changes affected evolution of mammalian life, National Science Foundation)
However, such seeps are today, and probably always were, minor resources.
(Scientists report correlation between locations of Easter Island statues and water resources, Wikinews)
A carcinoma that arises from the minor salivary glands.
(Minor Salivary Gland Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)
After 2012, deforestation began to increase successively with only minor dips.
(Amazon lost 7,989 km² of forest in 12 months, Agência Brasil)
Birth control: Should it be available to minors?
(Medical Ethics, NIH)
A mucoepidermoid carcinoma arising from the minor salivary glands in the anterior tongue.
(Anterior Tongue Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)
I heard one of the young men tell another that he knew I'd been an actress, in fact, he thought he remembered seeing me at one of the minor theaters.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Getting a pacemaker or ICD requires minor surgery.
(Pacemakers and Implantable Defibrillators, NIH)
The term may refer to one of two muscles, the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor.
(Pectoralis Muscle, NCI Thesaurus)
