Dictionary

minorative en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈmaɪnəɹeɪtɪv/ (UK)

Etymology

From the late-Middle French minoratif, minorative (“that diminishes or lessens”, of a medicine “mildly laxative”; as a noun “a mild laxative”), from minorer (“to diminish the importance [of]”). Equivalent to minorate (“diminish”, “lessen”) + -ive. Compare the post-Classical (i.e. 9th C.) Latin minōrātīvus.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) That diminishes or attenuates
2. (not-comparable, obsolete, of a medicine) Gently laxative.
   • Nothing but minorative apozems should be ordered. 1747, Jean Astruc (author; translator unknown), Academical Lectures on Fevers, page 112
   • Clysters sometymes do supplye the rowme of minoratyve medicines. 1543, Bartholomew Traheron (translator), Joannes de Vigo (author), The Most Excellent Workes of Chirurgerye, book IX, addendum, page 225

Forms

minorative en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmaɪnəɹeɪtɪv/ (UK)

Etymology

From the late-Middle French minoratif, minorative (“that diminishes or lessens”, of a medicine “mildly laxative”; as a noun “a mild laxative”), from minorer (“to diminish the importance [of]”). Equivalent to minorate (“diminish”, “lessen”) + -ive. Compare the post-Classical (i.e. 9th C.) Latin minōrātīvus.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A gently laxative medicine.
   • Others give minoratives more frequently. 1747, Jean Astruc (author; translator unknown), Academical Lectures on Fevers, page 232
   • When […] wee feare lest nature faint before perfect concoction, we may sometimes use a gentle minorative. 1633, James Hart, Κλινική; or, The Diet of the Diseased, book III, chapter xiv, page 284

Forms

Relateds

minorand · minorate · minoration