Minorative
//ˈmaɪnəɹeɪtɪv// adj, noun
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A gently laxative medicine. obsolete
"When […] wee feare lest nature faint before perfect concoction, we may sometimes use a gentle minorative."
Adjective
- 1 That diminishes or attenuates not-comparable
- 2 Gently laxative. not-comparable, obsolete
"Clysters sometymes do supplye the rowme of minoratyve medicines."
Example
More examples"Clysters sometymes do supplye the rowme of minoratyve medicines."
Etymology
From the late-Middle French minoratif, minorative (“that diminishes or lessens”, of a medicine “mildly laxative”; as a noun “a mild laxative”), from minorer (“to diminish the importance [of]”). Equivalent to minorate (“diminish”, “lessen”) + -ive. Compare the post-Classical (i.e. 9th C.) Latin minōrātīvus.
More for "minorative"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.