Adjacent Words

Mince definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MINCE, v.t. mins. [L. minuo, to diminish; L. minor, smaller; minuo, to diminish; Gr. small, slender; to diminish; L. minutus, minute.
1. To cut or chop into very small pieces; as, to mince meat.
2. To diminish in speaking; to retrench, cut off or omit a part for the purpose of suppressing the truth; to extenuate in representation.
I know no way to mince it in love, but to say directly, I love you.
Siren, now mince the sin,
And mollify damnation with a phrase--
If, to mince his meaning, I had either omitted some part of what he said, or taken from the strength of his expression, I certainly had wronged him.
These--were forced to mince the matter.
3. To speak with affected softness; to clip words; not to utter the full sound.
4. To walk with short or diminished steps.
MINCE, v.i. To walk with short steps; to walk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.
I'll turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride.
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty--
walking and mincing as they go. Isaiah 3.
1. To speak softly, or with affected nicety.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: food chopped into small bits; "a mince of mushrooms" v
1: make less severe or harsh; "He moderated his tone when the students burst out in tears" [syn: mince, soften, moderate]
2: walk daintily; "She minced down the street"
3: cut into small pieces; "mince the garlic"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (minced; mincing) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French mincer, from Vulgar Latin *minutiare, from Latin minutia smallness — more at minutia Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to cut or chop into very small pieces b. to subdivide minutely; especially to damage by cutting up 2. to utter or pronounce with affectation 3. a. archaic minimize b. to restrain (words) within the bounds of decorum intransitive verb to walk with short steps in a prim affected manner • mincer noun II. noun Date: 1600 1. small chopped bits (as of food); specifically mincemeat 2. British hamburger 1a

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. cut up or grind (esp. meat) into very small pieces. 2 tr. (usu. with neg.) restrain (one's words etc.) within the bounds of politeness. 3 intr. (usu. as mincing adj.) speak or walk with an affected delicacy. --n. esp. Brit. minced meat. Phrases and idioms: mince matters (usu. with neg.) use polite expressions etc. mince pie a usu. small round pie containing mincemeat. Derivatives: mincer n. mincingly adv. (in sense 3 of v.). Etymology: ME f. OF mincier ult. f. L (as MINUTIA)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mince Mince, v. i. 1. To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner. The daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, . . . mincing as they go. --Is. iii. 16. I 'll . . . turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride. --Shak. 2. To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mince Mince, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Minced; p. pr. & vb. n. Minging.] [AS. minsian to grow less, dwindle, fr. min small; akin to G. minder less, Goth. minniza less, mins less, adv., L. minor, adj. (cf. Minor); or more likely fr. F. mincer to mince, prob. from (assumed) LL. minutiare. ????. See Minish.] 1. To cut into very small pieces; to chop fine; to hash; as, to mince meat. --Bacon. 2. To suppress or weaken the force of; to extenuate; to palliate; to tell by degrees, instead of directly and frankly; to clip, as words or expressions; to utter half and keep back half of. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say -- ``I love you.'' --Shak. Siren, now mince the sin, And mollify damnation with a phrase. --Dryden. If, to mince his meaning, I had either omitted some part of what he said, or taken from the strength of his expression, I certainly had wronged him. --Dryden. 3. To affect; to make a parade of. [R.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mince Mince, n. A short, precise step; an affected manner.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(minces, mincing, minced) 1. Mince is meat which has been cut into very small pieces using a machine. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use ground beef, hamburger meat) Brown the mince in a frying pan. N-UNCOUNT 2. If you mince food such as meat, you put it into a machine which cuts it into very small pieces. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use grind) Perhaps I'll buy lean meat and mince it myself. ...minced beef. VERB: V n, V-ed 3. If you say that someone, especially a homosexual man, minces somewhere, you mean that they walk there with quick small steps. They minced in, in beach costumes and make-up. VERB: V prep/adv [disapproval] 4. If you say that someone does not mince their words, you mean that they speak in a forceful and direct way, especially when saying something unpleasant to someone. The doctors didn't mince their words, and predicted the worst... PHRASE: V inflects, with brd-neg

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Hash, cut into small pieces, chop fine. 2. Extenuate, palliate, be mealy-mouthed about, be reserved in speaking of. II. v. n. Affect delicacy.

Moby Thesaurus

allow for, amble, aspic, atomize, barbecue, barge, boiled meat, bouilli, bowl along, break into pieces, break to pieces, break up, bridle, bundle, civet, clump, color, crash, croak, crunch, crush, cut to pieces, demolish, diffuse, diminish, disperse, disrupt, drag, drawl, droop, ease, extenuate, fission, flesh, flounce, foot, footslog, forcemeat, fragment, gait, gallop, game, gloss over, grind, hachis, halt, hash, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hop, ignore, jerky, jog, joint, jolt, jugged hare, jump, lessen, limp, lisp, lock step, lumber, lunge, lurch, make allowance for, make mincemeat of, meat, menue viande, mince it, mincing steps, mitigate, pace, paddle, palliate, peg, pemmican, piaffe, piaffer, plod, pot roast, prance, prink, pulverize, quaver, rack, roast, roll, sashay, saunter, sausage meat, scatter, scrapple, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, shake, shamble, shatter, shiver, shuffle, sidle, simper, single-foot, skip, slink, slither, slog, slouch, slowness, slur over, smash, smash up, smirk, soft-pedal, soften, splinter, squash, squish, stagger, stalk, stamp, step, stomp, straddle, straggle, stride, stroll, strolling gait, strut, stump, swagger, swing, talk incoherently, tittup, toddle, totter, traipse, tread, trip, trot, trudge, varnish, velocity, venison, viande, waddle, walk, wamble, whitewash, wiggle, wobble