min·us·cule

(mĭn′ə-skyo͞ol′, mĭ-nŭs′kyo͞ol′) also min·is·cule (mĭn′ĭ-skyo͞ol′)

adj.

1. Very small; tiny. See Synonyms at small.

2. Of, relating to, or written in minuscule.

1. A small cursive script developed from uncial between the seventh and ninth centuries and used in medieval manuscripts.

2. A letter written in minuscule.

3. A lowercase letter.

[French, from Latin minusculus, rather small, diminutive of minus, neuter of minor, smaller; see mei- in Indo-European roots.]

mi·nus′cu·lar (mĭ-nŭs′kyə-lər) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

minuscule

(ˈmɪnəˌskjuːl) or

miniscule

1. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) a lower-case letter

2. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) writing using such letters

3. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) a small cursive 7th-century style of lettering derived from the uncial

adj

4. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) relating to, printed in, or written in small letters. Compare majuscule

5. very small

6. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) (of letters) lower-case

[C18: from French, from Latin (littera) minuscula very small (letter), diminutive of minor]

minuscular adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mi•nus•cule

(ˈmɪn əˌskyul, mɪˈnʌs kyul)

adj.

1. very small.

2. (of letters or writing) small; not capital.

3. written in such letters (opposed to majuscule).

4. a minuscule letter.

5. a small cursive script developed in the 7th century A.D. from the uncial, which it afterward superseded.

[1695–1705; < Latin minusculus smallish. See minus, -cule¹]

mi•nus′cu•lar, adj.

usage: minuscule, from Latin minus meaning “less,” has frequently come to be spelled miniscule, probably under the influence of the prefix mini- in the sense “of a small size.” Though this spelling occurs frequently in edited writing, it is usually considered an error.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	minuscule - the characters that were once kept in bottom half of a compositor's type case lowercase, lower-case letter, small letter grapheme, graphic symbol, character - a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters"
	2.	minuscule - a small cursive script developed from uncial between the 7th and 9th centuries and used in medieval manuscripts cursive, cursive script, longhand, running hand - rapid handwriting in which letters are set down in full and are cursively connected within words without lifting the writing implement from the paper
Adj.	1.	minuscule - of or relating to a small cursive script developed from uncial; 7th to 9th centuries minuscular lowercase - relating to small (not capitalized) letters that were kept in the lower half of a compositor's type case; "lowercase letters; a and b and c etc" majuscule - of or relating to a style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; 4th to 8th centuries
	2.	minuscule - lowercase; "little a"; "small a"; "e.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters" small, little lowercase - relating to small (not capitalized) letters that were kept in the lower half of a compositor's type case; "lowercase letters; a and b and c etc"
	3.	minuscule - very small; "a minuscule kitchen"; "a minuscule amount of rain fell" miniscule little, small - limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent; "a little dining room"; "a little house"; "a small car"; "a little (or small) group"

minuscule

adjective tiny, little, minute, fine, very small, miniature, microscopic, diminutive, infinitesimal, teeny-weeny, Lilliputian, teensy-weensy reducing his handwriting to minuscule proportions

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

minuscule

also miniscule
adjective

Extremely small:

diminutive, dwarf, Lilliputian, midget, miniature, minute, pygmy, tiny, wee.

Informal: peewee, pintsize, pintsized, teensy-weensy, teensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, weeny.

Translations

Minuskel

kirjainminuskelimitätönolematon

minuscule

minuscolo

minuscule

[ˈmɪnəskjuːl] ADJ → minúsculo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

minuscule

[ˈmɪnɪskjuːl] adj (= tiny) [number, part, proportion] → infime; [portion, detail] → minuscule
a minuscule amount → une quantité infimeminus sign n → signe m moins

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

minuscule

adj → winzig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

minuscule

[ˈmɪnəskjuːl] adj → piccolissimo/a, minuscolo/a

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Live action photography melds with 3D animation in a family-friendly sequel to the 2013 film Minuscule: Valley Of The Lost Ants, directed by Thomas Szabo and Helene Giraud.

A MINUSCULE ADVENTURE (U); RATING UNAVAILABLE

Summary: Davos [Switzerland], Jan 23 (ANI): Shah Rukh Khan, after receiving the 24th Crystal Award in Davos at the World Economic Forum (WEF) for "his leadership in championing children's and women's rights in India", said that he is happy to get recognition on a global platform for his "minuscule work".

SRK 'extremely charged' after receiving 24th Crystal Award

In this extended abstract of Rush and Shi (2012), we identify a disparate collection of posets characterized by properties from representation theory --the minuscule posets--that exhibits consistent behavior under the Fon-Der- Flaass action.

On orbits of order ideals of minuscule posets

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh found that minuscule particles produced by burning diesel can increase the chance of blood clots forming in arteries, leading to heart attacks or strokes.

TINY chemical particles in diesel [...]

The minuscule wind, which reaches about 25 kilometers per hour, cools the pad's surface, Jewell-Larsen says.

The little chill: tiny wind generator to cool microchip hot spots

(ENI)--A bishop in Pakistan has renounced his nationality in protest against discrimination and hatred he says is suffered by the minuscule Christian minority in the world's second largest Muslim nation.

Pakistani bishop gives up citizenship to protest discrimination

Some schools also feel that ranking harms the chances of their good, but not best, students getting into prestigious schools: They say that the gap between a student ranked second and a student ranked 14th can be minuscule, but the one ranked second is more likely to make the cut, and therefore has an unfair advantage.

Does class rank make the grade? Many high schools have stopped ranking students, forcing colleges to put more weight on SAT scores

The amount we know about same-sex couples is minuscule compared with the amount we know about heterosexual couples.

Wanted: gay couples

Like a minuscule vacuum cleaner, it can easily slide over a copper surface, sucking up loose copper atoms.

Atom hauler

A 1999 article in the journal Allergy reported the deaths of four Swedish children as a result of consuming minuscule amounts of soy "hidden" in hamburgers and other foods.

Don't forget soy allergies

Since the resounding defeat of the Soviet-style European Union constitution at the polls in France and The Netherlands, three minuscule European nations--Cyprus, Malta, and Luxembourg--have ratified the pact.

Orwellian Europe: "no" means "yes"

The bottle art included lyrical drawings of a man dancing, I only drink when I'm drunk (all works 2004), by Sebastian Gordin; Kuitca's glued-on bit of paper, called II desserto rosso (Red Desert) after the Antonioni film, depicting figures trekking through a russet landscape; signature work by the likes of Marcelo Pombo, with tinklingly explosive collages of drugstore-bought materials (shiny stickers, ribbon bows, minuscule plastic figurines); and a contribution from Fernanda Laguna, owner of the alternative art venue Belleza y Felicidad, whose bottle featured a melancholic cotton-ball cat.

"Vino Ramona": Galeria Alberto Sendros