minor
minor definition
mi·nor (mī′nər)
adjective
- lesser in size, amount, number, or extent
- lesser in importance or rank
- under full legal age (usually either eighteen or twenty-one years)
- Archaic constituting the minority: said of a party, etc.
- sad; melancholy; plaintive: from the identification in Occidental music of the minor key with such qualities
- ☆ Educ. designating or of a field of study in which students specialize, but less so than in their major
- Music
- designating an imperfect interval smaller than the corresponding major interval by a semitone
- characterized by minor intervals, scales, etc. the minor key
- designating a triad having a minor third
- based on the scale pattern of the minor mode
Etymology: ME menour < L minor < IE *minu-, small < base *mei-, to lessen > Gr meiōn, less, ON minni, smaller
intransitive verb
☆ Educ. to make some subject one's minor field of study to minor in art
noun
- a person under full legal age, who has not yet acquired all civil rights
- ☆ Educ. a minor subject or field of study
- Music a minor interval, key, etc.
minor Idioms
the minors
☆ the minor leagues, esp. in baseball
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