minimal

comparative more minimal · superlative most minimal · alternative abbreviation min.

1. The smallest possible amount, quantity, or degree.

   With minimal effort, you won't be able to achieve all your dreams.

   Synonyms: minimum · Antonyms: maximal

   1. engineeringAmong elements of some collection, such that no other element is greater (with respect to some given partial order).

      With respect to the ordering induced by set-theoretic inclusion, the power set of the set of natural numbers has a unique minimal element: the empty set.

      Synonyms: minimum · Antonyms: maximal

2. artCharacterised by the use of simple form or structures.
3. entertainmentCharacterised by the repetition and gradual alteration of short phrases.

plural minimals · alternative abbreviation min.

1. Something very small; a tiny part or fragment.

   […] identifications with birds, fish, trees, and flowers (and occasionally as relief, with the stillness of rocks, clam shells, driftwood, and nature's minimals); […]

   1987, J. Golden Taylor, Western Literature Association (U.S.), A Literary History of the American West (page 451)

   1 more example

   […] we seek in explaining mental phenomena and behavior always the "minimals," the little fragments of association, on which the mind is (passively) supposed to be based.

   1994, David Holbrook, Creativity and Popular Culture, page 37