Meaning & use
minicab
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableBritish
A licensed private car with a driver that you have to book ahead for a paid journey, rather than stopping one in the street.
Grammar: Used with an or the: we booked a minicab, but two minicabs were late.
Patterns
- book a minicab
- take a minicab to somewhere
- go by minicab
We booked a minicab to take us to the airport at five in the morning.
The minicab driver waited outside until the last of us had come out of the restaurant.
It was raining so hard that we gave up on the bus and called a minicab.
Word forms
| plural | minicabs |
|---|
Common combinations
- book a minicab
- I'll book a minicab for ten o'clock so we are not late.
- call a minicab
- Shall we call a minicab or walk home?
- minicab driver
- The minicab driver knew a quicker route through the back streets.
- minicab firm
- A local minicab firm offers a fixed price to the station.
- take a minicab
- They took a minicab back to the hotel after the concert.
Synonyms and how they differ
- taxi
- Taxi is the general word everywhere, while a minicab in Britain is specifically one you cannot flag down on the street.
- cab
- Cab is a shorter, more casual word that in London often means a black cab, whereas a minicab is a pre-booked private hire car.
- private hire car
- Private hire car is the formal and legal term, whereas minicab is the everyday word people actually say.
- ride-share
- Ride-share suggests an app-based service with a shared pool of drivers, while a minicab may come from a small local firm.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: minicab or black cab?
minicab vs black cab
A black cab is a London taxi you can hail on the street and which uses a meter. A minicab must be booked and is usually an ordinary car.
Practice
In London, you cannot wave down a ___ in the street; you have to book it by phone or app.
Choose one answer.
A minicab has to be pre-booked, so you cannot hail it. A black cab is the one you can stop in the street, which is why it does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “minicab”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.