minutia

[mi-noo-shee-uh, -shuh, -nyoo-] /mɪˈnu ʃi ə, -ʃə, -ˈnyu-/
noun, plural minutiae
[mi-noo-shee-ee, -nyoo-] /mɪˈnu ʃiˌi, -ˈnyu-/ (Show IPA)
1.
Usually, minutiae. precise details; small or trifling matters:
the minutiae of his craft.
Origin
1745-55; < Latin minūtia smallness, equivalent to minūt(us) minute2 + -ia -ia
Related forms
minutial, adjective
Can be confused
minimal, minimize, minimum, minuscule, minutia (see usage note at minuscule)
Examples from the web for minutia
  • Would you make the message rich in the opaque minutia of modern science and write.
  • It is satisfied with merely examining the minutia of each crisis in particular.
  • One of the great things about being a scientist is that you learn how to read in detail and appreciate minutia.
  • In fact, aside from those actually engaged in the traffic, but few persons know anything of its magnitude or minutia.
  • As such, high earners are much more motivated to wade through the minutia to find tax breaks that help bring the tax burden down.
  • The other seemed unmoored from the war, fixated on the minutia of daily life and the hiccups of the famous.
  • It is easy to get lost in the legalistic and political minutia of a law against aggression.
  • Above all this is a ballet about choreographic minutia in which detail has to be exact but also part of ample movement.
  • Pea-brained criminals and scientists who study minutia are favorite subjects.
  • We could quibble about the minutia of evolution forever, proving nothing.
Word Origin and History for minutia
n.

1751, plural minutiae, from Latin minutia "smallness" (plural minutiae, in Late Latin "trifles"), from minutus "small" (see minute (adj.)).