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# mince

«mince» in Mova's school dictionary: **meat cut into very small pieces in a machine, used for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (mince — uncountable) — UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ; verb (mince, minces, minced, mincing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Mince is meat cut into very small pieces in a machine, used for burgers, spaghetti bolognese and cottage pie; in the US and Canada it is called «ground beef» or «hamburger meat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#m1)

2) To mince food is to cut it into very small pieces. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#m2)

3) To mince is to walk with small, quick, fussy steps. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#m3)

4) «Not mince your words» means to say something directly, even if it is not polite. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In cooking at home and school, mince is a cheap everyday meat; «mince and tatties» is a Scottish dish, and «mince pies» are a Christmas treat (now filled with fruit, not meat). In everyday talk, «she didn't mince her words» means she was very blunt. In Scotland, «talking mince» means talking nonsense (slang).

### examples

- Mum bought beef mince for burgers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x1)
- Fry the mince with onions. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x2)
- Mince the garlic very finely. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x3)
- We eat mince pies at Christmas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x4)
- She didn't mince her words: «That's wrong.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x5)
- (Scotland) Stop talking mince! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x6)
- In the US, mince is called ground beef. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x7)
- The mince is browning in the pan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/#x8)

### note

Uncountable noun: «some mince», «500 grams of mince». Trap: «mince pies» in the UK are sweet fruit pies, not meat. «Mincemeat» is the sweet fruit filling; «make mincemeat of someone» = beat them easily.

### In the corpora

- [A sausage at a barbecue is mostly minced pork, and pork is meat from a pig.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/343-where-meat-and-fish-come-from-told-honestly/0/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «mince» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mince/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.