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minor |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Minor \Mi"nor\, n. 1. A person of either sex who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded; an infant; in England and the United States, one under twenty-one years of age. Note: In hereditary monarchies, the minority of a sovereign ends at an earlier age than of a subject. The minority of a sovereign of Great Britain ends upon the completion of the eighteenth year of his age. 2. (Logic) The minor term, that is the subject of the conclusion; also the minor premise, that is that premise which contains the minor term; in hypothetical syllogisms, the categorical premise. It is the second proposition of a regular syllogism, as in the following: Every act of injustice partakes of meanness; to take money from another by gaming is an act of injustice; therefore, the taking of money from another by gaming partakes of meanness. 3. A Minorite; a Franciscan friar. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Minor \Mi"nor\, a. [L., a comparative with no positive; akin to AS min small G. minder less OHG. minniro a., min, adv., Icel. minni, a., minnr, adv., Goth. minniza a., mins, adv., Ir & Gael. min small tender, L. minuere to lessen, Gr ?, Skr. mi to damage. Cf {Minish}, {Minister}, {Minus}, {Minute}.] 1. Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less smaller; of little account; as minor divisions of a body. 2. (Mus.) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as a minor third {Asia Minor} (Geog.), the Lesser Asia; that part of Asia which lies between the Euxine, or Black Sea, on the north, and the Mediterranean on the south. {Minor mode} (Mus.), that mode, or scale, in which the third and sixth are minor, -- much used for mournful and solemn subjects. {Minor orders} (Eccl.), the rank of persons employed in ecclesiastical offices who are not in holy orders as doorkeepers, acolytes, etc {Minor scale} (Mus.) The form of the minor scale is various. The strictly correct form has the third and sixth minor, with a semitone between the seventh and eighth which involves an augmented second interval, or three semitones, between the sixth and seventh as ^{6/F}, ^{7/G[sharp]}, ^{8/A}. But for melodic purposes, both the sixth and the seventh are sometimes made major in the ascending, and minor in the descending, scale, thus: From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: minor adj 1: of lesser importance or stature or rank; "a minor poet"; "had a minor part in the play"; "a minor official"; "many of these hardy adventurers were minor noblemen"; "minor back roads" [ant: {major}] 2: lesser in scope or effect; "had minor differences"; "a minor disturbance" [ant: {major}] 3: inferior in number or size or amount; "a minor share of the profits"; "Ursa Minor" [ant: {major}] 4: (music) of a scale or mode; "the minor keys"; "in B flat minor" [ant: {major}] 5: (law) not of legal age; "minor children" [syn: {nonaged}, {underage}] [ant: {major}] 6: of lesser seriousness or danger; "suffered only minor injuries"; "some minor flooding"; "a minor tropical disturbance" [ant: {major}] 7: of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization [ant: {major}] 8: (British) of the younger of two boys with the same family name "Jones minor" [syn: {minor(ip)}] 9: (theology) warranting only temporal punishment; "venial sin" [syn: {venial}] 10: limited in size or scope; "a small business"; "a newspaper with a modest circulation"; "small-scale plans" [syn: {modest}, {small}, {small-scale}] n : a young person of either sex (between birth and puberty); "she writes books for children"; "they're just kids"; "`tiddler' is a British term for youngsters" [syn: {child}, {kid}, {youngster}, {shaver}, {nipper}, {small fry}, {tiddler}, {tike}, {tyke}, {fry}, {nestling}] From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Minor, AL (CDP, FIPS 49072) Location: 33.52530 N, 86.94761 W Population (1990): 3313 (1349 housing units) Area: 8.2 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water) From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: MINOR, adj Less objectionable.
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