mince
Plural: minces
Noun
- food chopped into small bits
- "a mince of mushrooms"
- Finely chopped meat; minced meat.
- Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.
- An affected (often dainty or short and precise) gait.
- An affected manner, especially of speaking; an affectation.
- An eye (from mince pie).
- Something worthless; rubbish.
Verb
Verb Forms: minced, mincing, minces
- To cut food into very small pieces.
- make less severe or harsh
- walk daintily
- "She minced down the street"
- cut into small pieces
- "mince the garlic"
- To make less; to make small.
- To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.
- To effect mincingly.
- To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
- To suppress or weaken the force of.
- To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
- To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
- To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
- To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.
Examples
- a minced oath
- Butchers often use machines to mince meat.
- During Christmas time my dad loves to eat mince pies.
- He tried to MINCE words, but his opponent still understood his frustration.
- I love going to gay bars and seeing drag queens mince around on stage.
- Mince tastes really good fried in a pan with some chopped onion and tomato.
- That band's new album is total mince.
- to mince one's words
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English mincen, minsen; partly from Old English minsian, ġeminsian (“to make less, make smaller, diminish”), from Proto-West Germanic *minnisōn, from Proto-Germanic *minnisōną (“to make less”); partly from Old French mincer, mincier (“to cut into small pieces”), from mince (“slender, slight, puny”), from Frankish *minsto, *minnisto, superlative of *min, *minn (“small, less”), from Proto-Germanic *minniz (“less”); both from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Cognate with Old Saxon minsōn (“to make less, make smaller”), Old Dutch minson (“to make smaller”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌶𐌽𐌰𐌽 (minznan, “to become less, diminish”), Swedish minska (“to reduce, lessen”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (mins, “slender, slight”). More at min.
Synonyms
moderate, soften, abate, bring down, cut, decrease, decrement, diminish, extenuate, foreshorten, lessen, lower, palliate, reduce, weaken
Scrabble Score: 9
mince: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordmince: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
mince: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary