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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

• minors
  plural

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)

• minors,
  present (3rd person singular)
• minored,
  past participle,  past
• minoring
  present participle

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

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• minors
  plural

Participles

• minoring
  present
• minored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• minor
  simple
• minors
  simple
• have minored
  perfect
• has minored
  perfect
• am minoring
  progressive
• are minoring
  progressive
• is minoring
  progressive
• have been minoring
  perfect progressive
• has been minoring
  perfect progressive

Past

• minored
  simple
• had minored
  perfect
• was minoring
  progressive
• were minoring
  progressive
• had been minoring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will minor
  simple
• will have minored
  perfect
• will be minoring
  progressive
• will have been minoring
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

minor Minor minors minored minoring

The English academic had been named Cambridge’s youngest-ever Black professor a few years previously and had since become a minor U.K. media celebrity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The remaining seven people have been discharged after receiving treatment for minor injuries.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

In Morocco, a minor is deemed to be under 18.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Chesney said that Cole is recovering from a minor injury during preseason camp, but he refuses to let his absence on the turf affect his impact on the squad.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

As Adams remembered it, Jefferson had played a decidedly minor role in the Continental Congress.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Minor distractions notwithstanding, this hypnotically absorbing drama is acted with enormous skill.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

A few months earlier, Gatto met Ian after attending his previous band, the Minor Threat and Circle Jerks cover band Minor Jerk Brains’ show.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

"Minor damage has been recorded at the sites where debris fell," Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram.

From Barron's ● May 17, 2026

“We’re in a situation where the only options left are a lot of bad options,” said Allison Minor, a former U.S. official on Middle East policy now at the Atlantic Council think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

On September 6, 1922, General Hajienestis, Commander in Chief of the Greek forces in Asia Minor, awoke with the impression that his legs were made of glass.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

At the lower levels of the minors, Tugboat was practically untouchable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Across South East Asia, authorities are looking at restricting social media use for minors, citing possible ill effects.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

Instead, the brash phenom who once compared himself to Mike Trout spent half a decade toiling in the minors, a difficult stretch filled with disappointment, frustration and a boatload of strikeouts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

He made only eight errors in 124 games last season and none in 27 games after being called up from the minors in 2024.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

Due to the nature of the Senate’s work, minors of any species are not permitted.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

He is a St. Louis native and graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he majored in journalism and minored in art history and archeology.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

None of them minored in comedy in the School of Dramatic Arts — the program didn’t exist when they were students.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025

I minored in women’s and gender studies as an undergraduate at New York University; as a law student at the same institution, I took courses in feminist jurisprudence and women’s rights in Islamic law.

From Slate ● Dec. 14, 2023

He majored in communications and minored in English, with a goal of anchoring “SportsCenter” someday.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 31, 2023

“I minored in Spanish in college, sweetheart. I did a semester here. It’s where I met your dad...You know this!”

From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya

In 1992, I started at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in communications and minoring in theater.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026

“Right now, I’m a full-time student. I’m majoring in biology, minoring in computer science. My big goal is to become an astro microbiologist for NASA, so essentially looking for aliens.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

After majoring in philosophy and minoring in religion, he graduated in 1972.

From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022

This summer, she will attend the pre-college music summer program at Carnegie Mellon University, a college that would allow her to major in music while minoring in computer science.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 18, 2022

Hensien is majoring in marketing and minoring in entrepreneurship and expects to get her degree this summer.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2022

Related Words

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