What's the difference between major and minor?

Major


Definition:

  • (a.) Greater in number, quantity, or extent; as, the major part of the assembly; the major part of the revenue; the major part of the territory.
  • (a.) Of greater dignity; more important.
  • (a.) Of full legal age.
  • (a.) Greater by a semitone, either in interval or in difference of pitch from another tone.
  • (a.) An officer next in rank above a captain and next below a lieutenant colonel; the lowest field officer.
  • (a.) A person of full age.
  • (a.) That premise which contains the major term. It its the first proposition of a regular syllogism; as: No unholy person is qualified for happiness in heaven [the major]. Every man in his natural state is unholy [minor]. Therefore, no man in his natural state is qualified for happiness in heaven [conclusion or inference].
  • (a.) A mayor.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In contrast, resting cells of strain CHA750 produced five times less IAA in a buffer (pH 6.0) containing 1 mM-L-tryptophan than did resting cells of the wild-type, illustrating the major contribution of TSO to IAA synthesis under these conditions.
  • (2) With NaCl as the major constituent of the bathing solution (potassium-free pipette and external solutions) the reversal potential (Er) of the noradrenaline-evoked current was about 0 mV.
  • (3) After 4 to 6 hours of recirculation, accumulation of vasoactive amine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, its major metabolite, 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid, and its precursor amino acid, tryptophan were detected.
  • (4) The major treatable risk factors in thromboembolic stroke are hypertension and transient ischemic attacks (TIA).
  • (5) The promoters of the adenovirus 2 major late gene, the mouse beta-globin gene, the mouse immunoglobulin VH gene and the LTR of the human T-lymphotropic retrovirus type I were tested for their transcription activities in cell-free extracts of four cell lines; HeLa, CESS (Epstein-Barr virus-transformed human B cell line), MT-1 (HTLV-I-infected human T cell line without viral protein synthesis), and MT-2 (HTLV-I-infected human T cell line producing viral proteins).
  • (6) The data suggest that major differences may exist between ruminants and non-ruminants in the response of liver metabolism both to lactation per se and to the effects of growth hormone and insulin.
  • (7) Then a handful of organisers took a major bet on the power of people – calling for the largest climate change mobilisation in history to kick-start political momentum.
  • (8) This finding is of major importance for persons treated with diltiazem who engage in sport.
  • (9) Blatter requires a two-thirds majority of the 209 voters to triumph in the opening round, with a simple majority required if it goes to a second round.
  • (10) Further analysis with two other synthetic peptides (212Cys to 222Glu and Cys X 221Ile to 236Glu) indicated that the dodecapeptide Ile-Glu-Phe-Gln-Lys-Asn-Asn-Arg-Leu-Leu-Glu mimicked either the whole or a major part of the neutralization epitope.
  • (11) Inadequate treatment, caused by a lack of drugs and poorly trained medical attendants, is also a major problem.
  • (12) Even so, amputation of fifteen extremities and four other major excisions were required in twelve patients.
  • (13) In this study, standby and prophylactic patients had comparable success and major complication rates, but procedural morbidity was more frequent in prophylactic patients.
  • (14) These major departmental transformations are being run in isolation from each other.
  • (15) Epidemiological studies on low risks involve a number of major methodological difficulties.
  • (16) Given Australia’s number one position as the worst carbon emitter per capita among major western nations it seems hardly surprising that islanders from Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and other small island developing states have been turning to Australia with growing exasperation demanding the country demonstrate an appropriate response and responsibility.
  • (17) The time-course and dose-response for this modification of pp60c-src paralleled PDGF-induced increases in phosphorylation of pp36, a major cellular substrate for several tyrosine-specific protein kinases.
  • (18) The degree of increase in Meth responsiveness elicited by the initial provocation is a major factor in determining the airway response to a subsequent HS challenge.
  • (19) On the other hand, the majority of gynecologic patients with pelvic infections are young and healthy.
  • (20) Confidence is the major prerequisite for a doctor to be able to help his seriously ill patient.

Minor


Definition:

  • (a.) Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
  • (a.) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a minor third.
  • (n.) A person of either sex who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded; an infant; in England and the United States, one under twenty-one years of age.
  • (n.) The minor term, that is, the subject of the conclusion; also, the minor premise, that is, that premise which contains the minor term; in hypothetical syllogisms, the categorical premise. It is the second proposition of a regular syllogism, as in the following: Every act of injustice partakes of meanness; to take money from another by gaming is an act of injustice; therefore, the taking of money from another by gaming partakes of meanness.
  • (n.) A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The significance of minor increases in the serum creatinine level must be recognized, so that modifications of drug therapy can be made and correction of possibly life-threatening electrolyte imbalances can be undertaken.
  • (2) These studies led to the following conclusions: (a) all the prominent NHP which remain bound to DNA are also present in somewhat similar proportions in the saline-EDTA, Tris, and 0.35 M NaCl washes of nuclei; (b) a protein comigrating with actin is prominent in the first saline-EDTA wash of nuclei, but present as only a minor band in the subsequent washes and on washed chromatin; (c) the presence of nuclear matrix proteins in all the nuclear washes and cytosol indicates that these proteins are distributed throughout the cell; (d) a histone-binding protein (J2) analogous to the HMG1 protein of K. V. Shooter, G.H.
  • (3) Electronmicroscopical investigations have revealed that, under normal conditions, a minor vesicular transfer of intravenously injected peroxidase occurs across the endothelium in segments of arterioles, capillaries and venules, especially in arterioles with a diameter about 15-30 mu.
  • (4) Despite a 10-year deadline to have the same number of ethnic minority officers in the ranks as in the populations they serve, the target was missed and police are thousands of officers short.
  • (5) These sequences are also conserved in the same arrangement in minor sequence classes of minicircles from this strain.
  • (6) 2,3-Dihydroxybenzamide had previously been detected only as a minor metabolite of salicylamide by paper chromatography.
  • (7) The screening of blood products for HTLV-1 is of minor importance.
  • (8) Ligaments played a very minor role in the lifts studied.
  • (9) Although chronologic age may not be a good predictor of pregnancy outcome, adolescents remain a high-risk group due to factors which are more common among them such as biologic immaturity, inadequate prenatal care, poverty, minority status, and low prepregnancy weight, and because factors associated with an early adolescent pregnancy, such as low gynecologic age, may continue to influence the outcome of subsequent pregnancies.
  • (10) Our study suggests that a major part of the renal antimineralocorticoid activity of spironolactone may be attributable to minor sulfur-containing metabolites or their precursors having a high renal clearance that affords access to their site of activity via the renal tubular fluid.
  • (11) Overt hemorrhage, major or minor, was assessed clinically.
  • (12) Quality evaluations by usual human spermiogram methods were applicable with only minor modifications to the procedures.
  • (13) These results might help to explain why only a minority of individuals with a susceptible HLA type develop uveitis, as well as the variable incidence of disease in HLA-identical populations of different ethnic backgrounds.
  • (14) Normal rat soleus myosin has a major slow and a minor fast component due to two populations of muscle fibers.
  • (15) In his notorious 1835 Minute on Education , Lord Macaulay articulated the classic reason for teaching English, but only to a small minority of Indians: “We must do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indians in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.” The language was taught to a few to serve as intermediaries between the rulers and the ruled.
  • (16) By applying this method to rat cardiac whole muscle, high-molecular weight proteins, such as myosin heavy chains, are focused on the first-dimensional gels and, in addition, minor components are resolved on the second-dimensional gels, without loss during equilibration with detergent.
  • (17) Amid all of the worry about her health, the difficult decisions around the surgery, and how to explain everything to the children, the practicalities of postponing the holiday was a relatively minor consideration.
  • (18) A relation between ejection fraction (EF) and the echo minor dimension measurements in end diastole and end systole was formulated, which permitted estimation of the EF from the echo measurements.
  • (19) Isometric exercise induces a significant shortening of both intervals although minor for QT so that the ratio significantly increases in comparison to baseline (p less than .001).
  • (20) The majority of the patients were Chinese (78.0%), followed by Malays (11.5%), Indians (8.1%) and other minority races (2.4%).