MINIATURE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does miniature mean? 

• MINIATURE (noun)
  The noun MINIATURE has 2 senses:

1. painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts)

2. a copy that reproduces a person or thing in greatly reduced size

  Familiarity information: MINIATURE used as a noun is rare.

• MINIATURE (adjective)
  The adjective MINIATURE has 1 sense:

1. being on a very small scale

  Familiarity information: MINIATURE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MINIATURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

illumination; miniature

Hypernyms ("miniature" is a kind of...):

painting; picture (graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface)

Domain category:

Dark Ages; Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)

Derivation:

miniaturist (someone who paints tiny pictures in great detail)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A copy that reproduces a person or thing in greatly reduced size

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

miniature; toy

Hypernyms ("miniature" is a kind of...):

copy (a thing made to be similar or identical to another thing)

Derivation:

miniaturise; miniaturize (design or construct on a smaller scale)

• MINIATURE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being on a very small scale

Context example:

a miniature camera

Similar:

little; small (limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent)

 Context examples 

First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face of a stable, pointed to look like the front of a miniature house.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There are two sizes of Dachshund: standard and miniature.

(Dachshund, NCI Thesaurus)

The slop-chest is a sort of miniature dry-goods store which is carried by all sealing schooners and which is stocked with articles peculiar to the needs of the sailors.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Under these miniature magnetic umbrellas, the material that makes up the Moon's surface, called regolith, is shielded from the Sun's particles.

(NASA Mission Reveals Origins of Moon's 'Sunburn', NASA)

Most assumed they would resemble miniature dinosaurs, about the size of chickens, and walk on two legs.

(Scientists discover fossil of dinosaur ancestor with surprising croc-like appearance, NSF)

The micro-swimmers mimic biological behavior and might one day deliver targeted drugs or stir samples in a lab-on-a-chip — a laboratory in miniature.

(Tiny swimming 'doughnuts' deliver the biomedical goods, National Science Foundation)

He was caught in the miniature rapid at the bottom of the pool.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

She told me, that that same evening William had teased her to let him wear a very valuable miniature that she possessed of your mother.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“And that,” said Mrs. Reynolds, pointing to another of the miniatures, “is my master—and very like him. It was drawn at the same time as the other—about eight years ago.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Then taking a small miniature from her pocket, she added, To prevent the possibility of mistake, be so good as to look at this face.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)