college, but not as your main
subject — compare major v.
mi nor ity /mai'nDrati; NAmE
-'no:r-; -'na:r-/ noun {pi. -ies)
1 [sing.+sing./pl.
v.] the smaller part of a group; less than half of the people or things in a
large group Affc; A3& W.; 'A Wi A: Only a small minority
of students is/are interested in politics these days. @ flu,
0 minority shareholders
in the bank W Affcl&A 033 majority 2 [C] a small group
within a community or country that is different because of race, religion,
language, etc. 'AWSk\ 'AWCffifa:
the rights of ethnic/racial
minorities t
$.
o minority languages in ' W 0 a large
German-speaking minority in the east of the country . S^gp-^AP 0 {NAmE) The
school is 95 per cent
minority
(=95 per cent of children are not white Americans but from different groups).
& 95% ift^* i0 {NAmE) minority
neighborhoods (= where no or few white people live) W K 3 [U] {law
W) the state of being under the age at which you are legally an adult AJ&A IfflTl be in a/the
mi'nority to
form much less than half of a large group Ji£ A A be in a minority of 'one
(often humorous) to be the only person to have a
particular opinion or to vote a particular way HP| —
amejal#; mm-mtn%
mi nority 'government noun [C, U] a government
that has fewer seats in parliament than the total number held by all the other
parties
E# ) '
minority 'leader noun (in the US Senate or
House of Representatives) a leader of a political party that does not have a
majority ( A#J )
'minor
league (also
'Minor league) noun {NAmE) a league of
professional sports teams, especially in baseball, that play at a lower
level than the major leagues
f
'minor-league adj. [only before noun] {NAmE)
1 {sport f£) connected
with teams in the minor leagues in baseball
SR
ik W A SI (ft: a minor-league team SR ik # A S£ 2 not very important and having
little influence a minor-league business
W-^Aik
Mi
no taur /'mamato:(r); 'min-/ noun (in ancient Greek stories an imaginary creature who was half
man and half bull ( A# A )
min ster /'minst0(r)/ noun (BrE) a large
or important church York Minster ^JJtlAKc#
min strel /'mmstral/ noun a musician or singer in the
Middle Ages ( AMlft ) WffzEA mint /mint/ noun, verb
m noun
1 [U]
a plant with dark green leaves that have a fresh smell and taste and are added
to food and drinks to give flavour, and used in cooking as a herb and to decorate food M
jSf: mint-flavoured toothpaste fU ]pf (ft Alf o I
decorated the fruit salad with a sprig of mint. ffc AS # E 7jC ^ -fe 0l
o <> roast lamb with mint sauce 2 [C] a sweet/candy
flavoured
with a type of mint called
peppermint
SSH:
after- dinner mints U S jgf 3 [C] a place where money is made Wffi A: the Royal Mint (= the one where
British coins and notes are made) 4 a mint [sing.]
{informal) a large amount of
money A iWi : to make/cost a mint %A^\ IRfll
in mint
con dition new or as good as new; in perfect
condition
m verb [VN] to make a coin
from metal ( ff5 ) ; ^ jg
( )
minted /'mintid/
adj. 1 freshly/newly ~ recently produced,
invented, etc. a
newly minted expression ® ih M (tfj
is] in 2 (of food |t$j) flavoured with mint 3 {BrE, informal) very rich
mint
'julep (also
julep) noun [u, C] an alcoholic drink
made by mixing bourbon with
crushed ice, sugar, and MiNT#ffifcM® (
)
minty /'mmti/ adj. tasting or smelling of
mint SS W: a minty flavour/smell S S n 5k / H min uet /,minju'et/ noun a slow elegant dance
that was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries; a piece of music for this
dance /J^H, AAUffi ( SSfrA 17, 18 #42)
minus /'mamas/ prep., noun, adj.
m prep. 1 used when you subtract
(= take away) one number or thing from another one M M A : Seven
minus three is four (7-3 = 4). 0, 0 the
former
2 used to express temperature below zero degrees ^ T: It was minus ten. AJSo 0 The tempera
ture dropped to minus 28 degrees centigrade (-28 °C). H /m PJ # T 28 M A ® o 3 {informal) without sth that was there before A, A$k ( ) : We’re
going to be minus a car for a while. — J&'&WA
W0fo 033 plus IR71 see plus1
prep, m noun 1 (also minus sign) the symbol (-), used in mathematics $£ ; A ^ 2 {informal) a negative quality; a
disadvantage Let’s consider the pluses and
minuses of changing the system, itID # ft—A %
mmm^o 033 plus
« adj. 1 {mathematics tk) lower than zero /Jn A ^ W ; Hi : a minus figure/number 2 making sth seem negative and less
attractive or good ffi (tfj; M W A W : What are the car’s minus points (= the disadvantages)? & A (ft E H if 'A ? o On the minus side, rented property is
expensive and difficult to find. A 3 [not before noun] (used in a system of marks/grades A it it
J$i ^) slightly lower than the mark/grade A, B, etc. ffl&f&A A ( ^ B ^ ) : I got
(a) B minus (B-) in the test.
B-o r»nii3 plus
min
uscule /’minaskjuil/
adj. extremely small ® A
W;
ft/hW
minute1
/’minit/ noun, verb — see also minute2 unoun
►
PART OF HOUR A# 1 [C] {abbr. min.) each of the
60 parts of an hour, that are equal to 60 seconds
A: It’s four minutes to six. Mm ft/\&0 0I’ll be back in a few minutes. —£) L Ifc 0 0
0 Boil the
rice for 20
minutes. #AE20A#o <> a ten-minute bus ride
o I enjoyed every minute of the
party.
►
VERY SHORT TIME U ff 0<j H |!i' 2 [sing.] {informal) a very
short time
^AJL; — A JL (ft IA : It only takes a minute to make a
salad. Jfco
<>
Hang
on a minute—I’ll just get my coat. ^ —■ A
3$ A A 3|5 „ o I just have to finish this—I won’t
be a
minute. IS # % & fS JL — A JL it KE» 0 Could
I see
you for a minute? JE W-—A ^ ? 0 I’ll be with
you in a minute, Jo. — A JLJE, AA o Typical English weather—one minute
it’s raining and the next minute the sun is shining, N’MN’Bf „
►
EXACT MOMENT 3 [sing ] an exact moment in time M: At that very minute, Tom walked in. *)[A &
►
ANGLES 4 [C] each of the 60 equal parts of a degree, used in measuring angles A (&##&, AAA£ —
) : 37 degrees 30 minutes (37° 30') * 37 Jg 30
A
►
RECORD OF MEETING A IX iH A 5 the minutes [pi ] a
summary or record of what is said or decided at a formal meeting : We
read through
the minutes of the last meeting,
lc o <> Who is going to take the minutes {= write them)? TiA^A^iB^P
►
SHORT NOTE M 6 [C] a short note on a subject,
especially one that recommends a course of action jj§
m-, IfMiBm;
ITiTTl (at) any ‘minute ('now) very soon ^±. :
Hurry
up! He’ll be back any minute now.
A0Ao the minute (that) ... as soon as ... —•••«)[:
I
want to see him the minute he arrives.