Miniature
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.
- 2 a copy that reproduces a person or thing in greatly reduced size wordnet
- 3 A small version of something; a model of reduced scale.
"There was a miniature of a whaling ship in a glass bottle over the mantelpiece."
- 4 painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts) wordnet
- 5 A small, highly detailed painting, a portrait miniature.
"The miniature was a picture of Leo's Greek mother - a lovely, dark-eyed creature."
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- 6 The art of painting such highly detailed miniature works.
- 7 An illustration in an illuminated manuscript.
- 8 A musical composition which is short in duration.
"Sacha composed a miniature for strings as a final project at the conservatory."
- 9 A chess game which is concluded with very few moves.
- 10 A token in a game representing a unit or character.
"Jack had dozens of miniatures of Napoleonic footsoldiers painted in detailed period regalia for his wargames."
- 11 Lettering in red; rubric distinction.
- 12 A particular feature or trait.
"There's no miniature / In her fair face, but is a copious theme / Which would, discoursed at large of, make a volume."
- 1 To make smaller than normal; to reproduce in miniature. transitive
"If it be ever so little removed, or seen thro’ the miniaturing End of the Perspective Glass, it either wholly escapes their Sight, or appears to them a mere Minutity."
- 1 Smaller than normal.
"I find miniature dogs annoying; they seem to yap more than full-size dogs."
- 1 being on a very small scale wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The boy is his father in miniature."
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian miniatura (“manuscript illumination”), from miniare (“to illuminate”), from Latin miniō (“to colour red”), from minium (“red lead”).
Related phrases
More for "miniature"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.