/min"ee euh cheuhr, -choor', min"euh cheuhr/ , n.
1. a representation or image of something on a small or reduced scale.
2. a greatly reduced or abridged form or copy.
3. a very small painting, esp. a portrait, on ivory, vellum, or the like.
4. the art of executing such a painting.
5. an illumination in an illuminated manuscript or book.
6. in miniature , in a reduced size; on a small scale: The zoo exhibition offered a jungle in miniature.
adj.
7. being, on, or represented on a small scale; reduced.
[ 1580-90; miniatura miniature painting miniatura, equiv. to miniat ( us ) (see MINIATE) + -ura -URE; sense development perh. influenced by L base min- (see MINI-, MINOR) ]
Syn. 7. minute, microscopic, diminutive, tiny, minuscule.