adj
Meaning 1
Being a negative quantity; pertaining to a deficit or reduction.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Examples
- a minus number
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
minus
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.
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mīn-əs
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rhymes with -aɪnəs
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Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmaɪ.nəs/
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California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australian: /ˈmɑe.nəs/
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New-Zealand: /ˈmaɪ.nəs/
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New-Zealand: [ˈmɑe̯.nəs]
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South-Asia: /maj.nŭs/
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CMU ARPABET: M AY1 N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
That is below zero by (a specified amount) on a scale.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Examples
- minus seven degrees
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Worse off than before; out of pocket.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: colloquial, not-comparable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Ranking just below (a designated rating).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, postpositional
Examples
- He got a grade of B minus for his essay.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 5
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
The minus sign (−).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A negative quantity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
A downside or disadvantage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
prep
Meaning 9
Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
Examples
- Seven minus two is five.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: plus
prep
Meaning 10
Without; deprived of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
Examples
- I walked out minus my coat.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: lacking, without
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To subtract.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: colloquial, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
Meaning 12
on the negative side or lower end of a scale
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- minus 5 degrees
- a grade of B minus
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: plus
adjective satellite
Meaning 13
involving disadvantage or harm
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- minus (or negative) factors
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: negative
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 14
an arithmetic operation in which the difference between two numbers is calculated
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the subtraction of three from four leaves one
- four minus three equals one
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: subtraction
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: arithmetic operation
History
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”).
Unexplained.
Across languages
Translations
124 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: سَالِب (sālib) — negative
- Armenian: բացասական (bacʻasakan) — negative
- Bulgarian: отрицателен (otricatelen) — negative
- Chinese Mandarin: 负 (fù) — negative
- Dutch: min — negative
- Dutch: negatief — negative
- Dutch: negatieve — negative
- Finnish: negatiivinen — negative
- French: strictement négatif — negative
- French: strictement négative — negative
- Greek: αρνητικός (arnitikós) — negative
- Hungarian: mínusz — negative
- Hungarian: negatív — negative
- Icelandic: mínus- — negative
- Icelandic: sem lýtur að frádrætti — negative
- Icelandic: frádráttar- — negative
- Icelandic: neikvæður — negative
- Icelandic: minni en núll — negative
- Italian: negativo — negative
- Italian: negativa — negative
- Japanese: 負 (fu) — negative
- Norwegian: negativ — negative
- Polish: ujemny — negative
- Portuguese: negativo — negative
- Russian: отрица́тельный (otricátelʹnyj) — negative
- Swedish: negativ — negative
- Armenian: մինուս (minus) — on the negative part of a scale
- Basque: minus — on the negative part of a scale
- Dutch: min — on the negative part of a scale
- Dutch: onder nul — on the negative part of a scale
- Esperanto: minus — on the negative part of a scale
- Finnish: miinus — on the negative part of a scale
- Finnish: pakkanen — on the negative part of a scale
- French: moins — on the negative part of a scale
- Greek: μείον (meíon) — on the negative part of a scale
- Greek: πλην (plin) — on the negative part of a scale
- Hungarian: mínusz — on the negative part of a scale
- Icelandic: mínus- — on the negative part of a scale
- Icelandic: neikvæður — on the negative part of a scale
- Icelandic: minni en núll — on the negative part of a scale
- Japanese: マイナス (mainasu) — on the negative part of a scale
- Russian: ми́нус (mínus) — on the negative part of a scale
- Spanish: menos — on the negative part of a scale
- Swedish: minus — on the negative part of a scale
- Finnish: miinus — ranking just below a designated rating
- Finnish: miikka — ranking just below a designated rating
- French: moins — ranking just below a designated rating
- Hungarian: alá — ranking just below a designated rating
- Icelandic: mínus — ranking just below a designated rating
- Russian: с ми́нусом (s mínusom) — ranking just below a designated rating
- Swedish: minus — ranking just below a designated rating
- German: Minus — mathematics: negative quantity
- Icelandic: neikvæð tala — mathematics: negative quantity
- Icelandic: tala sem er minni en núll — mathematics: negative quantity
- Japanese: 負 (fu) — mathematics: negative quantity
- Japanese: マイナス (mainasu) — mathematics: negative quantity
- Portuguese: negativo — mathematics: negative quantity
- Russian: отрица́тельная величина́ (otricátelʹnaja veličiná) — mathematics: negative quantity
- Spanish: negativo — mathematics: negative quantity
- Swedish: negativ kvantitet — mathematics: negative quantity
- Thai: ลบ (lóp) — mathematics: negative quantity
- Czech: mínus — downside or disadvantage
- Finnish: miinus — downside or disadvantage
- German: Minus — downside or disadvantage
- Icelandic: mínus — downside or disadvantage
- Icelandic: ókostur — downside or disadvantage
- Russian: ми́нус (mínus) — downside or disadvantage
- Russian: недоста́ток (nedostátok) — downside or disadvantage
- Swedish: brist — downside or disadvantage
- Swedish: minus — downside or disadvantage
- Southern Altai: минус (minus) — mathematics: less
- Arabic: نَاقَص (nāqaṣ) — mathematics: less
- Arabic: ناقص (naaʔeṣ) — mathematics: less
- Armenian: հանած (hanac) — mathematics: less
- Asturian: menos — mathematics: less
- Basque: ken — mathematics: less
- Bengali: বিয়োগ (biẏōg) — mathematics: less
- Bulgarian: минус (minus) — mathematics: less
- Catalan: menys — mathematics: less
- Chinese Cantonese: 減 /减 — mathematics: less
- Chinese Mandarin: 減 /减 (jiǎn) — mathematics: less
- Czech: minus — mathematics: less
- Czech: mínus — mathematics: less
- Danish: minus — mathematics: less
- Dutch: min — mathematics: less
- Esperanto: minus — mathematics: less
- Estonian: miinus — mathematics: less
- Finnish: miinus — mathematics: less
- Finnish: pois — mathematics: less
- French: moins — mathematics: less
- Galician: menos — mathematics: less
- German: weniger — mathematics: less
- German: minus — mathematics: less
- Greek: πλην (plin) — mathematics: less
- Greek: μείον (meíon) — mathematics: less
- Hebrew: פחות (pakhót) — mathematics: less
- Hebrew: מינוס (mínus) — mathematics: less
- Hindi: कम (kam) — mathematics: less
- Hindi: घटाकर (ghaṭākar) — mathematics: less
- Hungarian: mínusz — mathematics: less
- Icelandic: mínus — mathematics: less
- Indonesian: dikurangi — mathematics: less
- Irish: lúide — mathematics: less
- Italian: meno — mathematics: less
- Japanese: 引く (hiku) — mathematics: less
- Korean: 빼기 (ppaegi) — mathematics: less
- Macedonian: минус (minus) — mathematics: less
- Malay: tolak — mathematics: less
- Marathi: कमी (kamī) — mathematics: less
- Norwegian: minus — mathematics: less
- Persian: منها (menhâ) — mathematics: less
- Polish: minus — mathematics: less
- Portuguese: menos — mathematics: less
- Russian: ми́нус (mínus) — mathematics: less
- Spanish: menos — mathematics: less
- Swedish: minus — mathematics: less
- Tagalog: bawas — mathematics: less
- Tamil: கழித்தல் (kaḻittal) — mathematics: less
- Thai: ลบ (lóp) — mathematics: less
- Turkish: eksi — mathematics: less
- Urdu: منفی — mathematics: less
- Vietnamese: trừ — mathematics: less
- Welsh: namyn — mathematics: less
- Yiddish: מינוס (minus) — mathematics: less
Real reading context