A minor of an undirected graph G is any graph that may be obtained from G by a sequence of zero or more contractions of edges of G and deletions of edges and vertices of G. The minor relationship forms a partial order on the set of all distinct finite undirected graphs, as it obeys the three axioms of partial orders: it is reflexive (every graph is a minor of itself), transitive (a minor of a minor of G is itself a minor of G), and antisymmetric (if two graphs G and H are minors of each other, then they must be isomorphic). However, if graphs that are isomorphic may nonetheless be considered as distinct objects, then the minor ordering on graphs forms a preorder, a relation that is reflexive and transitive but not necessarily antisymmetric.E.g., see , Section 2, "well-quasi-orders".
