minor
/ˈmaɪnɚ/ · mi·nor
noun
- A person who is below the age of majority, consent, criminal responsibility, or other adult responsibilities and accountabilities. It is illegal to sell weapons to minors under the age of eighteen.
- A subject area of secondary concentration of a student at a college or university, or the student who has chosen such a secondary concentration. I became an English minor.
- Determinant of a square submatrix The determinant of the minor matrix was calculated.
verb
- To choose or have an area of secondary concentration as a student in a college or university. I had so many credit hours of English, I decided to minor in it.
adjective
- Of little significance or importance. The physical appearance of a candidate is a minor factor in recruitment.
- Of a scale which has lowered scale degrees three, six, and seven relative to major, but with the sixth and seventh not always lowered. The minor scale was used in the composition.
- Being the smaller of the two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number The minor second interval is smaller than the major second.
Did you know? The term 'minor' has been used in music since the 16th century to describe scales and keys with lowered scale degrees, and has since expanded to encompass various senses related to youth and secondary concentration.