Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something that is distinctively smaller than other members of its type or class.
  • noun A miniskirt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A miniskirt.
  • noun dated A minicomputer.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective used of women's clothing; very short with hemline above the knee
  • noun a very short skirt

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From mini–. Sense 2, short for miniskirt.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The prefix mini- (from Latin) used as a noun.

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Examples

  • Magnetic resonance imaging MRI scans have led to another confusing use of the term mini-stroke.

    Episode Mini | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2009

  • The term mini greenhouse can refer to several styles of greenhouse:

    ReadABlog.com New Blogs and RSS Feeds 2009

  • The ECB president asked for the term to be repeated, and then, with raised eyebrows, muttered the word "mini" in a tone of voice suggesting a technical default would be anything but.

    Overheard: Enough Said 2011

  • The ECB president asked for the term to be repeated, and then, with raised eyebrows, muttered the word "mini" in a tone of voice suggesting a technical default would be anything but.

    Overheard: Enough Said 2011

  • He has four TVs—including a 46-inch Internet TV and a 37-inch screen in what he called a "mini man cave"—but still prefers a transistor radio and his pair of half-broken headphones.

    Catching the Knicks, 1960s-Style Ben Cohen 2012

  • I am not always in touch with my emotions and sometimes I only know that I am upset when I am halfway through what I call a mini-binge.

    Jan Shepherd: Emotional Fillers: Confronting My Binge Eating Disorder 2010

  • We have a Monday night service, and on Tuesday nights I go to what we call mini-church - a small group, essentially, just a few people who get together and talk about life and study the Bible together.

    Archive 2009-01-01 Happy 2009

  • We have a Monday night service, and on Tuesday nights I go to what we call mini-church - a small group, essentially, just a few people who get together and talk about life and study the Bible together.

    institutional whatnot Happy 2009

  • A few weeks back, I posted what I called a mini-rant after watching Sky business editor Michael Wilson on air and then was directed to go to the Sky News site to respond on their blog.

    Strange Attractor » 2007 » April 2009

  • She was in labor with me for 11 hours, so I hope that your mini is a bit more cooperative than I was and that your pain can be minimized!

    Pregnancy update: 33 weeks ScienceWoman 2006

  • Sometimes, when the going was rough and dangerous, we had to fall back on the ‘mini’, or minimum wage of eight shillings and 11 pence a shift.

    Joe Kenyon · Working Underground · LRB 27 November 1997 Joe Kenyon 2020

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