minimum

The lowest limit.

Adjective

  1. To the lowest degree.

    Synonyms: minimal

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin minimum, neuter form of minimus (“least, smallest”).

Derived

minimum wage

Noun

  1. The lowest limit.
    • We prefer candidates with a minimum of 4 years experience in the field.
    • We need a minimum of three staff members on duty at all times.
  2. The smallest amount.
    • He always tries to get away with doing the minimum.
    • Please keep noise to a minimum after 11 o'clock
    • Realism might be the hardest aesthetic to do well. The performances have to be genuinely moving and the setting vividly evoked; bonkers twists must be kept to a minimum. - 2021 April 16, Judy Berman, “Kate Winslet's...
  3. A period of minimum brightness or energy intensity (of a star).
    • The Maunder minimum of the Sun reportedly corresponded to a period of great cold on Earth.
  4. A lower bound of a set which is also an element of that set.
  5. The smallest member of a batch or sample or the lower bound of a probability distribution.

Forms

minima minimums

Antonyms

maximum

Hypernyms

measure of location extremum

Hyponyms

bare minimum Dalton Minimum global minimum local minimum Maunder minimum moral minimum solar minimum Spörer Minimum

Related

minimal minimize minimise

Derived

alternative minimum tax at a minimum at minimum at the minimum bare minimum Monday maximin minac minarchism minarchy minheap minimax minimum connecting time minimum contacts minimum cut minimum descent altitude minimum inhibitory concentration minimum minimorum minimum naturale minimum sector altitude minimum security minimum-security minimum seek time minimum skills minimum spanning tree