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# minor

«minor» in Mova's school dictionary: **Small or not very important; not serious: «a minor injury»** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (minor); noun (a minor, minors)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Small or not very important; not serious: «a minor injury». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#m1)

2) (noun) In law, a person who is not yet an adult (under 18 in many countries). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#m2)

3) In music, a minor key or chord often sounds sad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#m3)

4) (US) A second subject studied at university. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In safety and first aid lessons: «minor cuts and scrapes» can be cleaned and covered with a plaster, but serious ones need a doctor. In law and online life: minors cannot buy some things and need a parent's permission. In music lessons: major sounds happy, minor sounds sad. Phrases: «a minor problem», «a minor character» (in a story).

### examples

- It was only a minor cut, so Mum put on a plaster. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x1)
- There was a minor accident in the car park. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x2)
- The shop cannot sell knives to minors. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x3)
- This song is in a minor key and sounds sad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x4)
- The dog is a minor character in the book. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x5)
- We had a minor problem with the projector. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x6)
- Most bumps in the playground are minor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x7)
- Minor punctuation errors (omitted or incorrect punctuation, mismatched quote marks etc.) have been amended without note. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/minor/#x8)

### note

Opposite: «major». Noun «minority» means the smaller part of a group. Do not confuse with «miner» (a person who works in a mine), which sounds the same.

### In the corpora

- [A child flying alone, an unaccompanied minor, stays with the airline staff member who looks after them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/271-airports-and-planes/14/)
- [Pharmacists can give advice and medicines for many minor illnesses, and they send people to a doctor if something seems more serious.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/20-at-the-pharmacy/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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