minus

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See also: Minus and mínus

English

Etymology

From Middle English mynus, from Latin minus, neuter form of minor, comparative form of parvus (small, little), from the Proto-Indo-European root *mey- (few, small).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: mīn-əs, IPA(key): /ˈmaɪnəs/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪnəs

Preposition

minus

  1. (mathematics) Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).
    Antonym: plus
    Seven minus two is five.
  2. (informal) Without; deprived of.
    Synonyms: lacking, without
    I walked out minus my coat.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

minus (plural minuses or minusses)[1]

  1. (mathematics) The minus sign ().
    • 1835 January, the Sub-Editor [i.e., Edward Howard], “The Life of a Sub-Editor”, in The Metropolitan Magazine, volume XII, number XLV, London: Saunders and Otley, , page 427:
      On the third day a Master Barnard brings me up a slate full of plusses, minusses, x, y, z’s, and other letters of the alphabet, in a most amiable algebraical confusion.
  2. (mathematics) A negative quantity.
  3. A downside or disadvantage.
    • 1989, A[udrey] L[ilian] Barker, The Woman Who Talked to Herself, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 111:
      He valued Roderick’s friendship with the highest value he put on anything nowadays. Over the years they had assessed each other’s plusses and minusses and settled for the difference.
    • 2015, Peter Wyeth, “ Reason”, in The Matter of Vision: Affective Neurobiology & Cinema, New Barnet, Herts.: John Libbey Publishing Ltd; Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 113:
      As with LCR tout court the question is less to do with the plusses and minusses of the individual ideologies in themselves than in their relationship with their opposite numbers, in this case of Reason with Emotion.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective

minus (not comparable)

  1. Being a negative quantity; pertaining to a deficit or reduction.
    a minus number
  2. That is below zero by (a specified amount) on a scale.
    minus seven degrees
  3. (colloquial, obsolete) Worse off than before; out of pocket.
    • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 301:
      The races being finished, we left Epsom for London, Mordaunt's natural vile temper not being at all improved by being three hundred pounds minus by the week's speculation .
  4. (postpositive) Ranking just below (a designated rating).
    He got a grade of B minus for his essay.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

minus (third-person singular simple present minuses or minusses, present participle minusing or minussing, simple past and past participle minused or minussed)

  1. (transitive, colloquial) To subtract.
    • 1981 March, Kevin F Collis, Cognitive Development, Mathematics Learning, Information Processing and a Refocusing, Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Individualized Schooling, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, page 9:
      For example, in solving the following equation, x + 4 = 9, the child using the negating mechanism will reason, "minussing 4" undoes "plussing 4" therefore, if x + 4 = 9 then x = 5 and will not see any point in using any intermediate steps.
    • 1990, William T. Scott, “Systems and structures”, in The Possibility of Communication (Approaches to Semiotics; 87), Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 38:
      (The terms positive and negative feedback are now part of everyday language where the meanings are reversed: in cybernetic systems, positive feedback is undesirable for it indicates that the discrepancy is “plussing,” rather than “minussing” to zero.)
    • 2011, Laura Christine Bofferding, Expanding the Numerical Central Conceptual Structure:
      Four plus one is 5 and you go down because it's minusing, []
    • 2012, Jennifer S. Thom, “Opening Mathematical Spaces of Their Own”, in Re-Rooting the Learning Space: Minding Where Children’s Mathematics Grow (New Directions in Mathematics and Science Education; 21), Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, →ISBN, page 299:
      “But you also minussed! … Sam… Sam also minussed seventy-two but he also… one hundred forty-four minus seventy-two equals seventy-two. He also minussed the seventy-two.”

See also

References

  1. ^ “minus”, in Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary, London: Collins, 1987, published 1992, →ISBN, page 921, column 1:The plural can be either minusses or minuses.

Anagrams

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Latin minus (less).

Noun

minus

  1. minus

Declension

References

  • Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎, Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

Czech

Etymology

Derived from Latin minus, from minor.

Pronunciation

Adverb

minus

  1. minus

Noun

minus m inan or n

  1. minus
    Antonym: plus

Declension

when masculine:

Indeclinable when neuter.

Further reading

  • minus”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • minus”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • minus”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Preposition

minus

  1. minus
    Antonym: plus
    Tri minus du estas unu.Three minus two is one.
    • 1961, Esperantologio, page 156:
      Ni povas principe eliri aŭ de la nominativa formo (finaĵo nul aŭ -s) aŭ de la genitiva formo (minus la finaĵo -os); []
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 2008, Christian Declerck, Spitaj – kiel hidrargo, Antwerp: Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, →ISBN, page 85:
      ‘La universala estas la loka minus la muroj,’ diris Marteno.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Adjective

minus

  1. minus
    • 1913, La Revuo, page 395:
      Ho mia Dio! la muro estas vertikala, eĉ negative kruta. La angulo kun la vertikalo estas minus kvin gradoj, ĉar mi ankoraŭ povas matematike pensi.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 2015, Esteban Sánchez, Gramática Práctica del Esperanto, →ISBN, page 132:
      dek ok minus dudek estas minus du
      eighteen minus twenty is minus two
    • 2019, Sten Johansson, Ne eblas aplaŭdi unumane, New York, N.Y.: Mondial, →ISBN, page 41:
      La taga temperaturo kutime restadis inter minus dek kaj dek kvin gradoj, kion oni ĉi tie konsideris milda.
      The daytime temperature usually stayed between minus ten and fifteen degrees, which was considered mild here.

German

Pronunciation

Adverb

minus

  1. (mathematics) minus, less
    Synonym: weniger
    Antonym: plus
    vier minus drei ist eins.4–3=1

See also

Interlingua

Adverb

minus (not comparable)

  1. less (used to form comparatives)

le minus

  1. the least (used to form superlatives)

Antonyms

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *minos, neuter of *minōs. Related to minor.

Pronunciation

Adjective

minus

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of minor

Adverb

minus

  1. comparative degree of parum (very little, too few, not enough)
  2. comparative degree of paulum (very little)
    sīn minus/aliter/secusotherwise, if not

Descendants

  • Dalmatian: maine, men
  • Italo-Romance:
  • Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Padanian:
  • Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Ibero-Romance:
  • Insular Romance:
    • Sardinian: minus (Nuorese)
  • Borrowings:

References

  • minus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • sin in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
  • minus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • minus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Lithuanian

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Borrowed from Polish minus?”

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Preposition

mìnus[1]

  1. minus

References

  1. ^ minus”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2024

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin minus.

Adverb

minus

  1. minus

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin minus.

Adverb

minus

  1. minus

Derived terms

References

Polish

Pronunciation

Noun

minus m inan

  1. minus, minus sign
    Antonym: plus

Declension

Further reading

  • minus in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • minus in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin minus.

Adverb

minus

  1. minus

Noun

minus n (plural minusuri)

  1. minus

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

mínus m (Cyrillic spelling ми́нус)

  1. minus sign
  2. minuns, defect, deficiency

Declension

Swedish

Noun

minus n

  1. minus sign, minus

Preposition

minus

  1. (mathematics) minus
    Tre minus två är ett.
    Three minus two is one.

Derived terms

Veps

Pronoun

minus

  1. inessive of minä