miniature

Borrowed from Italian miniatura (“manuscript illumination”), from miniare (“to illuminate”), from Latin miniō (“to colour red”), from minium (“red lead”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn(ɪ)ətʃə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn(i)ətʃəɹ/, /ˈmɪn(i)ətʃʊəɹ/

miniature (plural miniatures)

1. Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.
2. A small version of something; a model of reduced scale.

   There was a miniature of a whaling ship in a glass bottle over the mantlepiece.

3. A small, highly detailed painting, a portrait miniature.
4. The art of painting such highly detailed miniature works.
5. An illustration in an illuminated manuscript.
6. A musical composition which is short in duration.

   Sacha composed a miniature for strings as a final project at the conservatory.

7. A chess game which is concluded with very few moves.
8. (role-playing games, board games) A token in a game representing a unit or character.

   Jack had dozens of miniatures of Napoleonic footsoldiers painted in detailed period regalia for his wargames.

9. Lettering in red; rubric distinction.
10. A particular feature or trait.
    • 1627, Massinger, Philip, “The Great Duke of Florence”, in Gifford, William, editor, The Plays of Philip Massinger‎, Act 5, Scene 3, published 1845, page 221:

      There's no miniature / In her fair face, but is a copious theme / Which would, discoursed at large of, make a volume.

• miniaturist

miniature (comparative more miniature, superlative most miniature)

1. Smaller than normal.
   • 2013 September 6, Alok Jha, “Miniature brains grown in lab”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 13, page 39:

     Scientists have grown miniature human brains in test tubes, creating a "tool" that will allow them to watch how the organs develop in the womb and, they hope, increase their understanding of neurological and mental problems. ¶ Just a few millimetres across, the "cerebral organoids" are built up of layers of brain cells with defined regions that resemble those seen in immature, embryonic brains.

   I find miniature dogs annoying; they seem to yap more than full-size dogs.

• miniature poodle
• miniaturism

miniature (third-person singular simple present miniatures, present participle miniaturing, simple past and past participle miniatured)

1. (transitive) To make smaller than normal; to reproduce in miniature.

Borrowed from Italian miniatura.

• IPA^(key): /mi.nja.tyʁ/

miniature f (plural miniatures)

1. miniature
2. (computing) thumbnail (a miniature preview of a larger image)

• (thumbnail): vignette, aperçu

• “miniature” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

miniature f

1. plural of miniatura

• minuteria
• ruminiate