Word.ws English Dictionary

de minimis

US/də ˈmɪnəmɪs/

de minimis adjective: concerning things that are so minor as to be negligible, trivial, or trifling. Often used to describe exemptions in government rules and regulations. Also the ellipsis of de minimis exemption.

Adjective

de minimis (not comparable)

  1. Concerning things that are so minor as to be negligible, trivial, or trifling. Often used to describe exemptions in government rules and regulations.
    • The tax is not payable on amounts below the de minimis limit of £100 per year.
    • The de minimis rules on import duty mean that alcohol for personal consumption is exempt from any charge.
  2. Beneath the notice of the law; so minor as not to warrant a penalty or remedy.
    • The behaviour of the accused was technically assault, but the judge found it de minimis and entered an acquittal.

Also used as

de minimis is also the ellipsis of de minimis exemption.

Examples of de minimis in a sentence

  • The de minimis exemption, as it’s known, allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to come into the United States duty-free, often more or less skipping time-consuming inspections and paperwork.2025 May 2, Elisabeth Buchwald, Ramishah Maruf, “A massive tariff on millions of Americans’ purchases just went into effect — cue the...
  • The White House said that between 2015 and 2024 the volume of de minimis shipments entering the US annually increased from 134mn to more than 1.36bn.2025 August 30, Aime Williams, “US launches small packages tariffs as duty exemption ends”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times...

Origin of de minimis

Borrowed from Latin de minimīs, ablative of minimus (“smallest, least”); shortened form of the legal maxim de minimis non curat lex (literally “the law does not concern itself with trifling matters”).

Questions about de minimis

What does de minimis mean?
De minimis means concerning things that are so minor as to be negligible, trivial, or trifling. Often used to describe exemptions in government rules and regulations.
How do you use de minimis in a sentence?
The de minimis exemption, as it’s known, allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to come into the United States duty-free, often more or less skipping time-consuming inspections and paperwork.
What part of speech is de minimis?
De minimis is an adjective.
How do you pronounce de minimis?
De minimis is pronounced /də ˈmɪnəmɪs/ (US).

Words near de minimis in the dictionary

  1. de luxe
  2. de Manian
  3. De Maria
  4. De Marias
  5. de Mauny
  6. de minimis
  7. de minimis non curat lex
  8. de Moivre number
  9. de Moivre numbers
  10. de Moivre's formula
  11. de Moivre's identity

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: de minimis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “de minimis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/de_minimis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.