miniature.
Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.
Meaning & usage
Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.
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.
A small, highly detailed painting, a portrait miniature.
The art of painting such highly detailed miniature works.
An illustration in an illuminated manuscript.
A musical composition which is short in duration.
Sacha composed a miniature for strings as a final project at the conservatory.
A chess game which is concluded with very few moves.
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.
Lettering in red; rubric distinction.
A particular feature or trait.
Where this word comes from
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.
Smaller than normal.
I find miniature dogs annoying; they seem to yap more than full-size dogs.
Where this word comes from
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.
To make smaller than normal; to reproduce in miniature.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.