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• minor
  minor

  adjective

  lesser, as in size, extent, or importance, or being or noting the lesser of two.
• Minor
  Minor

  noun

  a male given name.

minor

¹ American  

[mahy-ner] / ˈmaɪ nər /

adjective

1. lesser, as in size, extent, or importance, or being or noting the lesser of two.

   a minor share.

   Synonyms:

   subordinate, secondary, inferior

   Antonyms:

   major

2. not serious, important, etc..

   a minor wound; a minor role.

3. having low rank, status, position, etc..

   a minor official.

   Synonyms:

   small, unimportant, petty

4. under the legal age of full responsibility.

5. Education. of or relating to a field of study constituting a student's minor.

6. Music.

   1. (of an interval) smaller by a chromatic half step than the corresponding major interval.

   2. (of a chord) having a minor third between the root and the note next above it.

7. of or relating to the minority.

8. (initial capital letter) (of two male students in an English public school who have the same surname) being the younger or lower in standing.

   Jackson Minor sits over here.

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noun

1. a person under the legal age of full responsibility.

   Synonyms:

   adolescent, child

2. a person of inferior rank or importance in a specified group, class, etc.

3. Education.

   1. a subject or a course of study pursued by a student, especially a candidate for a degree, subordinately or supplementarily to a major or principal subject or course.

   2. a subject for which less credit than a major is granted in college or, occasionally, in high school.

4. Music. a minor interval, chord, scale, etc.

5. Mathematics. the determinant of the matrix formed by crossing out the row and column containing a given element in a matrix.

6. (initial capital letter) Friar Minor.

7. Sports. the minors, the minor leagues.

verb (used without object)

1. to choose or study as a secondary academic subject or course.

   to major in sociology and minor in art history.

Minor ² American  

[mahy-ner] / ˈmaɪ nər /

noun

1. a male given name.

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minor British  

/ ˈmaɪnə /

adjective

1. lesser or secondary in amount, extent, importance, or degree

   a minor poet

   minor burns

2. of or relating to the minority

3. below the age of legal majority

4. music

   1. (of a scale) having a semitone between the second and third and fifth and sixth degrees ( natural minor ) See also harmonic minor scale melodic minor scale

   2. (of a key) based on the minor scale

   3. (postpositive) denoting a specified key based on the minor scale

      C minor

   4. (of an interval) reduced by a semitone from the major

   5. (of a chord, esp a triad) having a minor third above the root

   6. (esp in jazz) of or relating to a chord built upon a minor triad and containing a minor seventh See also minor key minor mode

      a minor ninth

5. logic (of a term or premise) having less generality or scope than another term or proposition

6. education of or relating to an additional secondary subject taken by a student

7. (immediately postpositive) the younger or junior: sometimes used after the surname of a schoolboy if he has an older brother in the same school

   Hunt minor

8. (postpositive) Leisure:Bell-ringing of, relating to, or denoting a set of changes rung on six bells

   grandsire minor

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noun

1. a person or thing that is lesser or secondary

2. a person below the age of legal majority

3. education a subsidiary subject in which a college or university student needs fewer credits than in his or her major

4. music a minor key, chord, mode, or scale

5. logic a minor term or premise

6. maths

   1. a determinant associated with a particular element of a given determinant and formed by removing the row and column containing that element

   2. Also called: cofactor.   signed minor.  the number equal to this reduced determinant

7. (capital) another name for Minorite

verb

1. education to take a minor

Etymology

Origin of minor

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin: “less, smaller”; akin to Old English min “small,” Old Norse minni “smaller,” Gothic minniza “younger,” Sanskrit mīnāti “(he) diminishes”

Explanation

Something that's minor is considered of low importance — a minor injury is not very serious, and a college student's minor subject is a secondary field of study. Likewise, the star constellation Ursa Major is a larger grouping than Ursa Minor. The word minor has retained its spelling from the Latin. There, minor means something "lesser," and is related to the Latin word minuere, which means "to diminish." It is usually used as an adjective, but as a noun it gained the meaning "underage" in the 16th Century, and is now used to refer to children and teens under the age of legal responsibility. It is also used in musical terms to refer to a key that has a flatted third in its scale.

Example Sentences

Minor beach erosion and isolated minor coastal flooding are possible, most likely during evening high tides on Saturday and Sunday, the weather service said.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026

Minor damage was caused to the building, although no injuries were reported.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

Gulf states will likely conclude that their de-escalation approach to Iran has failed, said Allison Minor, a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

"Minor improvements in security were made over the past three years," Zreeg told AFP, but Libyans are still faced with huge economic challenges.

From Barron's • Feb. 21, 2026

Europe and Asia Minor were dead behind them.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Related Words

• adolescent
• baby
• boy
• child
• girl
• infant
• junior
• juvenile
• teenager
• youngster
• youth