minimum

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin minimum, neuter form of minimus (“least, smallest”).

noun

1. The lowest limit.
   We prefer candidates with a minimum of 4 years experience in the field.
   We need a minimum of three staff members on duty at all times.
2. The smallest amount.
   He always tries to get away with doing the minimum.
   Please keep noise to a minimum after 11 o'clock
   Realism might be the hardest aesthetic to do well. The performances have to be genuinely moving and the setting vividly evoked; bonkers twists must be kept to a minimum. April 16 2021, Judy Berman, “Kate Winslet's Mare of Easttown Is the Rare Crime Drama That Cares About Its Characters”, in Time
3. (astronomy) A period of minimum brightness or energy intensity (of a star).
   The Maunder minimum of the Sun reportedly corresponded to a period of great cold on Earth.
4. (mathematical analysis) A lower bound of a set which is also an element of that set.
5. (statistics) The smallest member of a batch or sample or the lower bound of a probability distribution.

adj

1. To the lowest degree.