Minuscule means extremely small or tiny. When you find a minuscule crumb on the table, it's so small you can barely see it. When a scientist examines minuscule organisms under a microscope, they're studying creatures invisible to the naked eye.

The word suggests something remarkably or surprisingly small. A small dog might be called small or little, but a minuscule insect is so tiny it almost disappears. You might describe the difference between two test scores as minuscule if they're separated by only a fraction of a point.

People commonly misspell this word as “miniscule” because it sounds like “mini.” The correct spelling is minuscule, with a “u” in the middle.

The opposite of minuscule is enormous, gigantic, or massive. When something matters very little, you might dismiss it as a minuscule concern compared to bigger issues. If your friend worries about a minuscule stain on their shirt that no one else can even see, they're probably overthinking.