minor miracle

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

minor miracle (plural minor miracles)

1. (idiomatic) An improbable, unexpected, or surprising achievement or other occurrence that is fortunate and agreeable.
   • 1874, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, Volume 1, page 193:

     When the vessel showed some symptoms of unsteadiness, I arose, walked gravely up to her, ranged the pilgrims around her with their shoulders to the sides, and told them to heave with might. . . . Each Maghrabi worked like an Atlas . . . and, sliding heavily through the sand, once more floated off into deep water. This was generally voted a minor miracle, and the Effendi was respected—for a day or two.

   • 1940 September 30, “Radio: Believers in Fur”, in Time, retrieved 4 August 2016:

     Last week over a CBS network Robert Ripley reunited after 40 years a mother and her long-lost son. Having accomplished this minor miracle, Ripley changed the pace of his Believe It Or Not show.

   • 1970 January, “AMC Javelin 390 SST”, in Car and Driver, retrieved 4 August 2016:

     The engineers at AMC have wrought a minor miracle in modifying this archaic transmission so that it is merely inconvenient instead of being an outright disappointment.

   • 1998 March 8, Clifford Krauss, “Dialing for Dollars in Brazil's Telephone Privatization”, in New York Times, retrieved 4 August 2016:

     The country's telephone service, however, is another matter. Getting a dial tone and holding a conversation free of static are minor miracles.

   • 2009 March 30, Marcus Armytage, “Racing Diary”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 4 August 2016:

     Richard Dunwoody . . . did however perform one minor miracle; managing to eat a bowl of cereal on horseback while looking at the camera and still finding his mouth with the spoon without spillage.

Usage notes

• Unlike the term miracle, minor miracle does not usually refer to an event having a divine origin.

Synonyms

• small miracle

Translations

improbable, unexpected, or surprising achievement or other occurrence that is fortunate and agreeable

• Finnish: pieni ihme
• Hungarian: kisebb csoda
• Russian: ма́ленькое чу́до (málenʹkoje čúdo)

Anagrams

• micromineral