Standard Lemma guide

miniature

adj · noun · verb · 15 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • mĭn′ĭchər
  • /ˈmɪnɪt͡ʃə/ non-rhotic, Received Pronunciation, Australian
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada: /ˈmɪnɪt͡ʃəɹ/
  • mĭn′ē-əchər
  • mĭn′ē-əcho͝or
  • /ˈmɪn(i)ət͡ʃəɹ/
  • US: /ˈmɪn(i)ət͡ʃʊəɹ/
  • Canada, uncommon: /ˈmɪn(i)ət͡ʃəɹ/
  • mĭn′ē-āchər
  • South-Asia: /mɪnɪjetʃɜ(r)/
  • CMU ARPABET: M IH1 N IY0 AH0 CH UH2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: M IH1 N IH0 CH UH2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Smaller than normal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • I find miniature dogs annoying; they seem to yap more than full-size dogs.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A small version of something; a model of reduced scale.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • There was a miniature of a whaling ship in a glass bottle over the mantelpiece.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A small, highly detailed painting, a portrait miniature.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The art of painting such highly detailed miniature works.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

An illustration in an illuminated manuscript.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A musical composition which is short in duration.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Sacha composed a miniature for strings as a final project at the conservatory.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A chess game which is concluded with very few moves.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: board-games, chess, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

A token in a game representing a unit or character.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: roleplaying games; board games; roleplaying games; board games

Examples

  • Jack had dozens of miniatures of Napoleonic footsoldiers painted in detailed period regalia for his wargames.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

Lettering in red; rubric distinction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

A particular feature or trait.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

verb

Meaning 12

To make smaller than normal; to reproduce in miniature.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • c. 1807, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, letter to Joseph Cottle, cited in Joseph Cottle, Early Recollections, Chiefly Relating to the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, London: Longman, Rees, 1837, Volume 2, p. 131, Now what the globe is in geography, miniaturing in order to manifest the truth, such is a poem to that image of God, which we were created into [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

adjective satellite

Meaning 13

being on a very small scale

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a miniature camera

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

noun

Meaning 14

a copy that reproduces a person or thing in greatly reduced size

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: toy

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: copy

15

noun

Meaning 15

painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: illumination

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: painting, picture

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Paleo-Hispanicbor. Latin Minius Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Italic *-om Latin -um Latin minium Italian minio Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Italian -are Italian miniare Proto-Indo-European *-tew-? Proto-Indo-European *-r-eh2? Latin -tūra Italian -tura Italian miniaturabor. English miniature Borrowed from Italian miniatura (“manuscript illumination”), from miniare (“to illuminate”), from Latin miniō (“to colour red”), from minium (“red lead, minium”). Not related to minimum, minor or min (which are all from a different root, *mi-n-), though the sense development may have been influenced by association with them or sound symbolism.

Across languages

Translations

46 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: миниатюрен (miniatjuren) — smaller than normal
  • Czech: miniaturní — smaller than normal
  • Hungarian: miniatűr — smaller than normal
  • Māori: mākari — smaller than normal
  • Norwegian Bokmål: miniatyr- — smaller than normal
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: miniatyr- — smaller than normal
  • Russian: миниатю́рный (miniatjúrnyj) — smaller than normal
  • Bulgarian: миниатюра (miniatjura) — a model of reduced scale
  • Catalan: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • Czech: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • Finnish: miniatyyri — a model of reduced scale
  • French: miniature — a model of reduced scale
  • Galician: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • German: Miniatur — a model of reduced scale
  • Hungarian: makett — a model of reduced scale
  • Irish: mionsamhail — a model of reduced scale
  • Italian: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • Japanese: ミニチュア (minichua) — a model of reduced scale
  • Kazakh: миниатюра (miniatüra) — a model of reduced scale
  • Korean: 미니어처 (minieocheo) — a model of reduced scale
  • Korean: 미니아튀르 (miniatwireu) — a model of reduced scale
  • Latvian: miniatūra — a model of reduced scale
  • Norwegian Bokmål: miniatyr — a model of reduced scale
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: miniatyr — a model of reduced scale
  • Polish: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • Portuguese: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • Romanian: miniatură — a model of reduced scale
  • Russian: миниатю́ра (miniatjúra) — a model of reduced scale
  • Spanish: miniatura — a model of reduced scale
  • Arabic: مُنَمْنَمَة (munamnama) — manuscript illustration
  • Bulgarian: миниатюра (miniatjura) — manuscript illustration
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小畫像 /小画像 (xiǎo huàxiàng) — manuscript illustration
  • Dutch: miniatuur — manuscript illustration
  • French: enluminure — manuscript illustration
  • German: Miniatur — manuscript illustration
  • German: mittelalterliche Buchmalerei — manuscript illustration
  • German: mittelalterliche Handschriftenillustration — manuscript illustration
  • Hungarian: miniatúra — manuscript illustration
  • Kazakh: миниатюра (miniatüra) — manuscript illustration
  • Polish: miniatura — manuscript illustration
  • Russian: миниатю́ра (miniatjúra) — manuscript illustration
  • Bulgarian: миниатюра (miniatjura) — a musical composition which is short in duration
  • Polish: miniatura — a musical composition which is short in duration
  • Russian: миниатю́ра (miniatjúra) — a musical composition which is short in duration
  • Finnish: miniatyyri — a token in a game representing a unit or character
  • French: figurine — a token in a game representing a unit or character
Real reading context

miniature in complete knowledge articles