mincing
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of mincing
Explanation
Mincing is an adjective that describes someone who is being especially dainty or refined. The voices of older women who speak as though they're young girls can be described as mincing. Mincing is primarily used as an adjective meaning to be noticeably — and perhaps oddly or unnaturally — dainty or refined. You might remark, for example, on a lumberjack who takes mincing steps across a log, or a woman who speaks to her dog in a mincing voice. In these cases, the daintiness is unnatural — it's put on for show — or in the case of the lumberjack, so he won't fall off the log.
Vocabulary lists containing mincing
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Great Gatsby
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"To Build a Fire," Vocabulary from the short story
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mincing no words, it is called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2022
"Everyone bought through the same location - Mincing Lane in London - where teas were blended but the quality was not reliable," says biographer Michael D'Antonio.
From BBC • Sep. 22, 2018
But not everyone in the road, which leads on to Mincing Lane in Rowley Regis, agrees with the campaign.
From BBC • Jan. 2, 2018
In a high-ceilinged amphitheater on London's Mincing Lane last week, veteran Auctioneer A. B. Yuille stepped up to the rostrum and pounded his gavel.
From Time Magazine Archive
The weather was so glorious, the sea all rippling and dancing in the morning sunshine, the streets so full of merry pleasure-seekers, that going back to the office in Mincing Lane was dull enough.
From Little Folks (October 1884) A Magazine for the Young by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
