minor

Pronunciation

• IPA ^(key): /maɪnə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: miner

Adjective

Positive minor

Comparative more minor

Superlative most minor

1. A minor change, problem, injury, etc. is not very important.

   We still have to make a few minor changes, but it's mostly done.

2. (music) A minor musical scale is a scale that starts two notes before the major scale. Music in a minor scale often sounds sad.

   That music could be A minor or C major.

Antonyms

• major

Related words

• minority

Noun

Singular minor

Plural minors

1. (countable) A minor is a person who is younger than the legal age of adulthood.

   In Indiana, a person younger than 18 years old is considered a minor.

2. (countable) A minor is a person below a legal age of privilege, right or responsibility, such as the legal drinking age or legal age for sexual activity.

   The high school teacher was convicted of a crime for having sex with a minor.

   The bar got in trouble for serving alcohol to a minor.

3. A minor is a subject area that is not the main study of a student at a college or university, but is their second most important focus.

   I had so many credit hours of English, it became my minor.

Antonyms

• (law) adult
• (subject area) major

Verb

Plain form minor

Third-person singular minors

Past tense minored

Past participle minored

Present participle minoring

1. Minor means to minor in a subject at a college or university.

   I had so many credit hours of English that I decided to minor in it.