Minuscule

//ˈmɪnɪˌskjuːl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A lowercase letter. countable
  2. 2
    a small cursive script developed from uncial between the 7th and 9th centuries and used in medieval manuscripts wordnet
  3. 3
    Either of the two medieval handwriting styles minuscule cursive and Caroline minuscule. uncountable

    "By the eighth century, Irish scribes had refined everyday cursive writing in minuscule to allow its use for the production of quality vellum books."

  4. 4
    the characters that were once kept in bottom half of a compositor's type case wordnet
  5. 5
    A letter in these styles. countable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Written in minuscules, lowercase.
  2. 2
    Written in minuscule handwriting style.
  3. 3
    Very small; tiny.

    "a minuscule dot"

Adjective
  1. 1
    extremely small wordnet
  2. 2
    lowercase wordnet
  3. 3
    of or relating to a small cursive script developed from uncial; 7th to 9th centuries wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abecedarianallographicalphabeticalphabeticalbabybaby-sized

Example

More examples

"The amount of arsenic in the water is minuscule but significant."

Etymology

From French minuscule, from Latin minuscula, feminine of minusculus (“rather less, rather small”), from minus (“less, smaller”) + -culus (diminutive suffix).

Related phrases

Caroline minusculeCarolingian minusculehumanist minusculeminuscule cursivecaroline minusculeminuscule cursive

More for "minuscule"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.