mincing

[ min-sing ]

adjective

1. (of the gait, speech, behavior, etc.) affectedly dainty, nice, or elegant.

mincing

/ ˈmɪnsɪŋ /

adjective

1. (of a person) affectedly elegant in gait, manner, or speech

Derived Forms

• ˈmincingly, adverb

Other Words From

• mincing·ly adverb
• un·mincing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mincing¹

First recorded in 1520–30; mince + -ing ²

Example Sentences

His soft, thoughtful delivery forces the listener to take note and when he speaks he is usually very direct, rarely mincing his words.

From BBC

But Kirby's response to the horror at the refugee camp is "mincing words" and "splitting hairs," argued Parkinson.

From Salon

"I took a couple of days to get some scans. No bone damage so figured the only option left was to stop mincing about like a little weasel, get the strongest painkillers available and zombie stomp road again," he said at the time.

From BBC

It looks wildly overregulated, with these mincing steps away from overregulation.

From Slate

There is no minute-to-minute psychodrama involving someone in a tight black T-shirt mincing along the outdoor ledge of a skyscraper, ninja-kicking his lonely way down to the stairwell, where he karate-chops the well-armed baddies and then commando crawls his way into an empty vault with the glass chest where the nuclear reactor sits.

From Slate