Minuscule

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈmɪnÉ™skjuːl/

Origin

From French minuscule.

Alternative forms

• miniscule (Originally a misspelling, but now so common that it has come to be considered an alternative spelling by many)

Full definition of minuscule

Noun

1. A lower-case letter.
2. Any of the two medieval handwriting styles minuscule cursive and Caroline minuscule.
3. A letter in these styles.

Adjective

1. Written in minuscules, lower-case.
2. Written in minuscule handwriting style.
3. Very small, tiny.
• 2013-05-25, No hiding place, In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.
4. a minuscule dot

Synonyms

• (written in minuscules) lower-case, small
• (very small) microscopic, minute, tiny

Antonyms

• (lower-case) majuscule, uppercase

Usage notes

See the usage notes at miniscule