Minimal means as small in amount as it could be. Minimal effort, minimal damage, keep it minimal.
Strictly it means the least possible rather than merely small, so minimal damage should mean none worth mentioning. In design, minimal describes a style stripped to essentials, and it takes a great deal of work to look that plain.
1adjectiveminimalAs small in amount as it could be.
“The storm caused only minimal damage, and the shop reopened the next day.”
minimal is a degree.
Proto-Indo-European
*mey- (small)
Latin
minimum
English
minimum
English, today
minimal
Built from
From minimum + -al. minimum Learned borrowing from Latin minimum., neuter form of minimus (“least, smallest”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA