MINOR
Dictionary entry overview: What does minor mean?
• MINOR (noun)
The noun MINOR has 1 sense:
1. a young person of either sex
Familiarity information: MINOR used as a noun is very rare.
• MINOR (adjective)
The adjective MINOR has 10 senses:
1. of lesser importance or stature or rank
2. lesser in scope or effect
3. inferior in number or size or amount
4. of a scale or mode
5. not of legal age
6. of lesser seriousness or danger
7. of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization
8. of the younger of two boys with the same family name
9. warranting only temporal punishment
10. limited in size or scope
Familiarity information: MINOR used as an adjective is familiar.
Dictionary entry details
• MINOR (noun)
Meaning:
A young person of either sex
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
child; youngster; kid; minor; nipper; tiddler; tike; small fry; shaver; nestling; tyke; fry
Context examples:
she writes books for children / they're just kids / 'tiddler' is a British term for youngsters
Hypernyms ("minor" is a kind of...):
juvenile; juvenile person (a youthful person)
Meronyms (parts of "minor"):
child's body (the body of a human child)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "minor"):
bairn (a child: son or daughter)
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 ((offensive) a Black child)
peanut (a young child who is small for his age)
orphan (a child who has lost both parents)
kiddy (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)
street child; waif (a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned)
• MINOR (adjective)
Meaning:
Of lesser importance or stature or rank
Context examples:
a minor poet / had a minor part in the play / a minor official / many of these hardy adventurers were minor noblemen / minor back roads
Similar:
secondary (not of major importance)
insignificant; peanut (of little importance or influence or power; of minor status)
Antonym:
major (of greater importance or stature or rank)
Meaning:
Lesser in scope or effect
Context examples:
had minor differences / a minor disturbance
Antonym:
major (greater in scope or effect)
Meaning:
Inferior in number or size or amount
Context examples:
a minor share of the profits / Ursa Minor
Attribute:
minority (being or relating to the smaller in number of two parts)
Antonym:
major (greater in number or size or amount)
Meaning:
Of a scale or mode
Context examples:
the minor keys / in B flat minor
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)
Meaning:
Not of legal age
Synonyms:
underage; nonaged; minor
Context example:
minor children
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
Antonym:
major (of full legal age)
Meaning:
Of lesser seriousness or danger
Context examples:
suffered only minor injuries / some minor flooding / a minor tropical disturbance
Antonym:
major (of greater seriousness or danger)
Meaning:
Of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization
Antonym:
major (of the field of academic study in which one concentrates or specializes)
Meaning:
Of the younger of two boys with the same family name
Context example:
Jones minor
Similar:
junior (younger; lower in rank; shorter in length of tenure or service)
Domain region:
Britain; GB; 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)
Meaning:
Warranting only temporal punishment
Synonyms:
venial; minor
Context example:
venial sin
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)
Meaning:
Limited in size or scope
Synonyms:
pocket-sized; pocket-size; small; small-scale; modest; minor
Context examples:
a small business / a newspaper with a modest circulation / small-scale plans / a pocket-size country
Similar:
limited (small in range or scope)
