I. ˈmīnə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: in sense 1, from Middle English, from Medieval Latin, from Latin minor, adjective; in sense 2, from Late Latin, from Latin minor, adjective; in other senses, from minor (II)
1.
a. : the premise in logic that contains the minor term:
(1) : the second proposition of a regular syllogism
(2) : the categorical premise in a hypothetical syllogism
b. : minor term
2.
a. : a person of either sex under full age or majority : one who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded : one who in England and generally in the United States is under 21 years of age — compare age I 1d(2), infant
b. : a person in Scots law who has exceeded the age of pupillarity by being over 14 if a boy or over 12 if a girl but who has not attained the majority age of 21 years
3. : a minor musical interval, scale, key, or mode
listened … to the pulsating sweet minors of the hymns — Irwin Shaw
4. or minor determinant : a mathematical determinant obtained by deleting the same number of rows and columns from the given determinant
5.
a. : a minor academic course
b. : a minor academic subject
degree in history with a minor in school administration — Current Biography
6. : minor league — usually used in plural with the
an old pitcher retired to the minors — Vincent McHugh
7. : minor suit
II. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin, smaller, less, inferior; akin to Old High German minniro smaller, Old Norse minni smaller, Gothic minniza least, younger, inferior, Latin minuere to lessen, Greek meiōn less, Sanskrit mināti he lessens
1.
a. : inferior in importance : comparatively unimportant : lower in standing or reputation than others of the same kind
these hardy adventurers were minor noblemen — R.A.Billington
minor back roads which serve as bridle paths — American Guide Series: Massachusetts
a minor poet
b. : being the less important of two things
a minor canon
a minor piece in chess
2. : having the status of a legal minor not having reached the age of majority or full legal age
minor children follow the nationality of the parents — William Samore
3. archaic : being in or constituting a numerical minority
another person had the minor vote in the election — Thomas Hutchinson
4.
a.
(1) of a scale : having half steps between the second and third, fifth and sixth, and sometimes seventh and eighth degrees — see harmonic minor scale , melodic minor scale , natural minor scale
(2) of a key : based (as in harmonic relations) on such a scale — opposed to major; used after the name of a keynote
fugue in D minor
in the key of B minor
b. of an interval
(1) : less by a half step than the corresponding major interval : of a size equal to the distance between the keynote and a (specified) degree of the minor scale — used of the second, third, sixth, and seventh
(2) : less by a comma — used of one whole step in an untempered scale compared with another
D to E is a minor whole step, smaller by a comma than C to D
c. of a mode in measurable music : having the long divided into breves
5. : being the second in age or school standing of two or more boys with the same surname in an English public school
Smith minor
6. medicine : not serious or involving risk to life
a minor illness
a minor operation
— compare major
7. : of, relating to, or being a branch of the judiciary having jurisdiction limited to a specified local area and to cases usually involving matters of lesser importance
minor courts … deal with such cases as breaches of the traffic laws, petty theft, and minor domestic cases — Canadian Citizenship Series
8.
a. : of, relating to, or being an academic course usually having fewer class hours than a major course
b. : of, relating to, or being an academic subject usually requiring fewer courses or hours than a major subject and given secondary emphasis in a student's schedule
his minor subjects for his M.A. were plant ecology and entomology — Current Biography
III. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: minor (I)
: to take courses in a specified field of study as one's minor
will major in … literature and minor in theater work — Goucher Alumnae Quarterly