mince
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cut or chop into very small pieces.
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to soften, moderate, or weaken (one's words), especially for the sake of decorum or courtesy.
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to perform or utter with affected elegance.
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to subdivide minutely, as land or a topic for study.
verb (used without object)
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to walk or move with short, affectedly dainty steps.
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Archaic. to act or speak with affected elegance.
noun
idioms
verb
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(tr) to chop, grind, or cut into very small pieces
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(tr) to soften or moderate, esp for the sake of convention or politeness
I didn't mince my words
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(intr) to walk or speak in an affected dainty manner
noun
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minced meat
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informal nonsensical rubbish
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have mincedperfect
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has mincedperfect 3rd person singular
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have been mincingperfect progressive
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am mincingprogressive 1st person singular
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is mincingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been mincingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are mincingprogressive
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mincessingular 3rd person
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mincingparticiple
Past
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had mincedperfect
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was mincingprogressive singular
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had been mincingperfect progressive
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were mincingprogressive plural
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mincedsimple
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mincedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of mince
1350–1400; Middle English mincen < Middle French minc ( i ) er < Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre to mince; see minute 2
Explanation
To mince is to chop into tiny bits. Your favorite soup recipe might include directions to mince four cloves of garlic. When you dice an onion into very small pieces, you mince it, and when you grind meat very fine to make sausage or mincemeat, you also mince. Another meaning of the verb is to soften, or to express something in a gentle way: "She doesn't mince her words." This word can also mean to walk in a dainty manner, like the way your 7-year-old niece might mince across the floor while pretending to be a fancy princess. The Old French root, mincier, means "make into small pieces," and it comes from the Latin word for "small," minutus.
Vocabulary lists containing mince
Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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The Grapes of Wrath
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"Winter Dreams," 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.
And when Pelley went after Bilton over his colleagues’ pink slips, he didn’t mince words: Weiss “is murdering 60 Minutes.”
From Slate • Jun. 5, 2026
Sulzberger didn’t mince words on the issue, calling what AI companies do “brazen theft” of new organizations’ intellectual property, in a speech earlier this week.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026
Yet Mr. Netanyahu didn’t mince words about what remains to be done.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026
Jefferies analyst Roger Song didn’t mince words in his own note over the weekend, writing that the company faces “a tough road ahead.”
From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026
She did not mind that there were so many things Isannah could not ‘keep down’—like pork gravy, mince pies, new beer.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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.
