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mince definition

mince (mins)

transitive verb minced, mincing minc′·ing

  1. to cut up or chop up (meat, etc.) into very small pieces; hash
  2. to subdivide minutely
  3. to express or do with affected elegance or daintiness
  4. to lessen the force of; weaken, as by euphemism to mince no words

Etymology: ME mincen < OFr mincier < VL *minutiare < L minutus, small: see minute

intransitive verb

  1. to speak or act with affected elegance or daintiness
  2. to walk with short steps or in an affected, dainty manner

noun

mincemeat

Related Forms:

mince Idioms

not mince matters

to speak frankly

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

mince Synonyms

mince

v.

  1. To chop

    dice, hash, divide; see chip.

  2. To minimize

    mitigate, alleviate, lessen; see decrease 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

mince Usage Examples

Object

  • pie: Roast Beef, plum pudding, mince pies - Who likes them better, Happy Jack or I?

Adjective modifier

  • raw: If you are sure the bird is an insect eater raw mince or tinned cat food can be mixed in.

Modifies a noun

  • pie: Organic mince pies were up 50 % followed by organic turkey at 33 % , the chain said.

Modifying Another Word

  • n't: Why wo n't mince brown the way they tell you?

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • around: God wants you to find your maximum expression dancing to His beat, not feeling pressured to mince around awkwardly to somebody else's.

Followed by a transitive particle

  • up: They were a bit like an office paper shredder, except more robust, because they were designed to mince up old plastic.

Used with why or when

  • when: Well my only answer to that is " why eat mince when you could eat steak " ?
mince usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

mince quotes

They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon.

-Lear, Edward

mince quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"mince." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/mince>

APA Style

mince. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/mince

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