How to Use minus in a Sentence

minus

1 of 3 preposition
  • He left the restaurant minus his hat.
  • But if it’s been minus 10 and the temps soar to 20, deer get lazy again.
    Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 6 Sep. 2023
  • Turns out, hers is the experts’ way (minus the licking).
    Chantal Martineau, Bon Appétit, 7 Nov. 2019
  • Both corners of the eyes are full of glittery smidgins and the rest of the face (minus the lips) are set for a natural look.
    Emy Rodriguez Flores, Redbook, 9 Dec. 2019
  • So minus Frederick, there seems to be a need at center and maybe even for some depth.
    Calvin Watkins, Dallas News, 10 Apr. 2020
  • Delta Junction has seen some weather near minus 20 this month out in the Barley project.
    John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Apr. 2023
  • Wind chills are forecast to fall to minus 20 to minus 35 degrees.
    Joe Taschler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 Jan. 2022
  • It’s got all the festive vibes of a winter wonderland minus the slush.
    Cristian Esteban, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2023
  • The temperature in LaCrosse is forecast to drop to minus 17 overnight.
    Joe Taschler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 Jan. 2022
  • Carrying on as Live minus him was just going to be hard.
    Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 2 Nov. 2022
  • Wind chills are expected to reach up to minus 20 degrees.
    Erin McGarry, NBC News, 23 Dec. 2022
  • San Diego had one of the largest outflows — 2,100 users — which measured the number of home searches from the metro minus the number looking to move here.
    Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Nov. 2023
  • The coronation concert ended the short video, with clips of the Wales' family minus Prince Louis heading up the stairs to the royals' box to watch the concert.
    Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 13 May 2023
  • Want to head off on your own wine-country jaunt, minus the Sideways drama and tourist traffic?
    Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 16 Dec. 2023
  • In the production of LNG, gas is chilled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit and shrunk to a liquid that can be stored and shipped to terminals.
    Georgi Kantchev, WSJ, 22 Aug. 2022
  • Unlike last week’s game at the center of the college football universe, this one will kick on a cold Starkville morning minus the buzz.
    Michael Casagrande | McAsagrande@al.com, al, 15 Nov. 2019
  • The overnight temperature in Chicago was around minus 9 degrees but felt like minus 33 with the wind chill.
    NBC News, 16 Jan. 2024
  • In trade, that usually refers to the trade deficit — that is, America’s exports to a country minus its imports.
    Lydia Depillis, ProPublica, 13 Oct. 2020
  • One county coach said her girls lacrosse team is preparing for the playoffs minus its seniors.
    Pat Stoetzer, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 31 May 2021
  • The Heat’s new starting lineup finished the loss with a plus/minus of minus 14 in 13 minutes together.
    Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 26 Jan. 2024
  • First, total goal difference (all of the team’s goals scored across their three matches minus all of their goals conceded).
    Time, 29 Nov. 2022
  • Much of the ethanol dissipates, leaving you with a flaky pie crust minus the alcohol flavor.
    Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2023
  • Another is that Tesla is a $660 billion growth stock minus the growth.
    Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Except for the snow, and temperatures that dipped this month to minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
    New York Times, 20 Mar. 2021
  • And looking at nothing at all Jay Jones shows you what Las Vegas looks like minus 42 million people.
    Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2020
  • Surplus proceeds from a foreclosure is money from the sale of a property minus the taxes and fees owed to the county.
    Nushrat Rahman, Detroit Free Press, 29 Aug. 2023
  • Like, of course, Radiohead minus a few members made an awesome record.
    Corbin Reiff, SPIN, 28 Dec. 2022
  • This one isn’t a looker, but what a tasty option for those looking for some Boston cream joy minus the dairy component.
    Pamela Wright, BostonGlobe.com, 22 June 2023
  • For weeks on end, the temperature dipped below minus 20.
    Genevieve Ko, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Feb. 2024
  • And if your goal in 2024 is to find easier ways to clean, utilizing clever home essentials is the simplest way to keep a tidy space minus the effort.
    Gabriela Izquierdo, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Dec. 2023
Advertisement

minus

2 of 3 noun
  • Put the minus to the left of the number.
  • She decided that the pluses of owning a home outweighed the minuses.
  • Some employers see a lack of experience as a real minus.
  • But in the end, even the the Beavers’ C-minus game was good enough.
    Joe Freeman, oregonlive, 4 June 2022
  • But Zeller had a plus-minus of minus-17 on the evening.
    oregonlive, 5 Nov. 2021
  • Matt Bradley had the best plus/minus at plus-27 points with him on the floor.
    Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Mar. 2023
  • He was tied with Trey Stewart in plus-minus, and the two led the team in that stat.
    Alex Vejar, The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 Nov. 2022
  • Bucky Irving opened the drive with runs of three and minus-one.
    oregonlive, 22 Oct. 2022
  • Wind chills into the minus-teens to minus-30s are likely in the mountains to the west.
    Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 21 Dec. 2022
  • As a result, the Grizzlies have a league-best plus/minus of 4.8 points in the first half.
    Michael Arinze, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2023
  • The training staff tied for 30th, while the weight room carded a C-minus.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2023
  • Alleyne had a plus-minus of plus-27 in his 22 minutes, the highest on the team.
    Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 18 Dec. 2022
  • But still, in 20 years, our grades have ranged from an A-plus-plus-plus to a total F-minus.
    Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 18 Aug. 2022
  • Robinson had the highest plus-minus on the team, finishing plus-21 for the game.
    Cameron Teague Robinson, The Courier-Journal, 28 Jan. 2022
  • In contrast, the teammate with the next-highest plus-minus posted a plus-15.
    Andrew Greif, Los Angeles Times, 18 Nov. 2022
  • Watford, who led the team in plus/minus on Friday with a plus-19, is a sneaky good passer.
    oregonlive, 3 Feb. 2023
  • Paul George led the Clippers with 30 points but turned the ball over eight times and was minus-9 in the plus/minus category.
    Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2021
  • The minus strand is then copied to produce a positive strand.
    William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021
  • The Magic’s average plus/minus in the new year has been minus-5.3 — the 22nd-worst mark in the league — despite not having a win.
    Khobi Price, orlandosentinel.com, 13 Jan. 2022
  • And then there is the ending, which also has plusses and minuses.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 18 May 2023
  • The temperature is expected to remain in the minus teens for the first half of the week, Fuentes said.
    Colleen Shalbystaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2023
  • Also a reason that Duncan has the 15th best real plus-minus in the league.
    Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2022
  • In his first seven minutes on the court, Rudy Gobert had a +25 plus-minus.
    Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Feb. 2022
  • Collins and Wallace both scored 15 points apiece, second most on the team, and finished the game with plus-40 plus/minus ratings.
    The Courier-Journal, 12 Aug. 2022
  • This writer graded each team and gave the Lions an A-minus for their Day 1 haul.
    Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 29 Apr. 2022
  • Billups in no way blamed the bench for the loss despite four of the starters finishing with plus in the plus-minus category.
    oregonlive, 5 Nov. 2021
  • But Portland scoring so many on the power play, which don’t count in plus-minus, helped.
    Dylan Bumbarger, oregonlive, 9 Feb. 2022
  • But the work on Saturday knocks the grade down a small bit down from an A-minus on Friday to a B-plus today.
    Tim Bielik, cleveland, 30 Apr. 2022
  • Milwaukee’s bench ranks eighth with a plus/minus of 0.8 points per game.
    Michael Arinze, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2023
  • The portion that then explains the type of treatment for ADHD could be construed as a plus or a minus.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2023
Advertisement

minus

3 of 3 adjective
  • But on the minus side, isn’t almost every angle the same for the big ball?
    Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, 2 Oct. 2019
  • Thomas is at minus-one, as is Collin Morikawa, who followed a 73 with a 70.
    Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2022
  • The Seahawks have a turnover margin of plus-six, while the Eagles are minus-two.
    Chris Wassel, USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire, 22 Nov. 2019
  • By mid-April, the space looked like a real kitchen, minus counters.
    Joan Elovitz Kazan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2 June 2022
  • Friday could bring much of the same, with wind chills as low as minus 45 degrees.
    CBS News, 19 Dec. 2022
  • The wind chill is predicted to reach a low of minus 20 degrees.
    Max Londberg and Andy Marso, kansascity, 26 Dec. 2017
  • Ezekiel Elliott lost 4 yards on the other two minus-runs.
    Dallas News, 3 Oct. 2022
  • This was minus Chris Paul, who was out with a fractured right thumb, and Cam Johnson (quad).
    Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 29 Mar. 2022
  • The winds would rise, and the temperature would fall to minus 60 degrees.
    Marcin Jamkowski, Outside Online, 11 Apr. 2018
  • The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus three percentage points.
    Mahita Gajanan, Time, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Count back from 100 to one by minus six, then subtracting four.
    James Crepea, AL.com, 5 Apr. 2018
  • La Crosse, Wisconsin, reached a record low of minus 19.
    Chron, 15 Feb. 2021
  • The minus 13 degrees temperature in Albany, New York, tied the record low for the date.
    Dennis Romero, NBC News, 5 Feb. 2023
  • The negative terminal will have a minus (-) sign and a black wire.
    Liam Gravvat, USA TODAY, 26 July 2022
  • Because the Roamers are good down to minus 30 degrees, the bag is also a solid start for cold nights when paired with these pads.
    Wes Siler, Outside Online, 20 June 2019
  • And while a minus tide opens more area, less than a minus tide might still yield decent digging.
    Bill Monroe, oregonlive, 10 June 2023
  • Start looking two or three hours before the low tide at minus levels.
    Bill Monroe, oregonlive, 1 Apr. 2022
  • On the minus side, that makes both bands slightly less relevant.
    Scott Fowler, charlotteobserver, 21 Aug. 2017
  • When there is a points tie, the first tiebreaker is goal difference (goals-for minus goals-against) in group matches.
    C.j. Doon, baltimoresun.com, 13 June 2018
  • This could be a first-round playoff preview but New Orleans is minus star big man Boogie Cousins for the rest of the season.
    Greg Rajan, Houston Chronicle, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The light was almost blindingly bright, in fact, but the brightness could be adjusted using the plus and minus buttons on the top of the light.
    Ellen McAlpine, CNN Underscored, 5 Nov. 2020
  • On the minus side, that makes nuclear war with N. Korea twice as likely.
    Tierney McAfee, PEOPLE.com, 27 Sep. 2017
  • On the minus side: getting there and distractions from colleagues.
    WSJ, 14 Aug. 2021
  • Vegas Vic opened the Patriots at minus 6 with an over/under of 48.
    Philly.com Staff, Philly.com, 5 Feb. 2018
  • William Pierce, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and faces 36 months in prison, minus time served.
    oregonlive, 12 Oct. 2019
  • Wind chills as low as minus 27 were predicted there during the weekend.
    Jenna Russell, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2023
  • On the minus side, though: The hearty pile of toppings proved too much for a crust that, having absorbed so much tomato sauce in transit to us, had become limp and slimy.
    Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 3 Nov. 2017
  • When Gasteyer finally took off her mask, not only were the judges (minus McCarthy) shocked, but many fans were too.
    Martha Sorren, Woman's Day, 11 Dec. 2019
  • Tamimi pled guilty to assault and incitement, and Lieberman sentenced her to eight months in prison, minus time served.
    Batya Ungar-Sargon, The New York Review of Books, 17 June 2019
  • The productivity to this point makes it somewhat of a minus outcome.
    Ira Winderman, Sun-Sentinel.com, 6 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'minus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: