minute

plural minutes

1. A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds).

   You have twenty minutes to complete the test.

   3 more examples

   Holonyms: hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond

   Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond

   Total activity levels in the lowest quartile were equivalent to walking for 49 minutes at roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) per hour daily. Total activity levels in the second-, third- and fourth-highest quartiles were equivalent to 78, 105 and 160 minutes, respectively.

   2024 November 15, Kristen Rogers, “Want to live an extra 5 to 10 years? Adopt this habit, study suggests”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Jul 2025

2. informalA short but unspecified time period.

   give me a minute

   1 more example

   Wait a minute, I’m not ready yet!

   Synonyms: instant, jiffy, mo, moment, sec, second, tic, bat of an eye

3. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.

   We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.

   Synonyms: minute of arc, sexagesm, arcminute

4. in pluralminutesA (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.

   Let’s look at the minutes of last week’s meeting.

   1 more example

   The Clerk or 'recording Clerk' drafts a minute and then, or at a later time, reads it to the Meeting. Subsequent contributions are on the wording of the minute only, until it can be accepted by the Meeting. Once the minute is accepted, the Meeting moves on to the next item on the agenda.

   2008, Pink Dandelion, The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction, page 52

5. A unit of purchase on a telephone or other similar network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network.

   If you buy this model, you’ll get 100 free minutes.

6. A point in time; a moment.

   I conked out the minute I got home.

   1 more example

   Tell her, that I some Certainty may bring; / I go this minute to attend the king.

   1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe

   Synonyms: instant, moment, instant, juncture, moment, occasion, point in time, sith

7. A nautical or a geographic mile.
8. An old coin, a half farthing.
9. obsoleteA very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a whit.

   […]according to the Prophecies of him, which were so clear and descended to minutes and circumstances of his passion

   1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of the Probable or Thinking Conscience.”, in Ductor Dubitantium, or, The Rule of Conscience in all her Generall Measures Serving as a Great Instrument for the Determination of Cases of Conscience, volume 1

10. architectureA fixed part of a module.
11. CanadaUSdialectalslangA while or a long unspecified period of time.

    Oh, I ain't heard that song in a minute!

    3 more examples

    “Man, I haven’t seen you in a minute,” he says, smiling still. “Maybe like two, three years ago?”

    2010, Kenneth Ring, Letters from Palestine, page 18

    I seen Too$hort up there. Me and $hort ain't talked in a minute.

    2010 June 10, Lil B, Complex.com

    RON:I remember my first. I was a minute younger than you. […]I remember thinking, saying to myself..."This is the first time I'm eating as a person who killed someone."

    2016 November 8, Ben Katai, Josh Corbin, Sharon Lennon, directed by Ben Katai, StartUp(Recapitalization) (StartUp (TV series)), season 1, episode 10 (TV), spoken by Ronald Dacey (Edi Gathegi)

    Synonyms: age, spell, aeon, age, ages, blue moon, coon's age, crow's age

12. The distance that can be traveled in a minute.

present singular third person minutes · participle present minuting · participle past minuted · past minuted

1. transitiveOf an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.

   I’ll minute this evening’s meeting.

   4 more examples

   I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.

   1870 [1855 June 27], Charles Dickens, “Administrative Reform”, in Speeches Literary and Social, page 133

   On 17 November 1949 Jay minuted Cripps, arguing that trade liberalization on inessentials was socially regressive.

   1995, Edmund Dell, The Schuman Plan and the British Abdication of Leadership in Europe

   The Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command, Sir Richard Peirse, was sceptical of its findings, minuting, ‘I don’t think at this rate we could have hoped to produce the damage which is known to have been achieved.’

   1996, Peter Hinchliffe, The Other Battle

   Mr. Klingstadt, chief Auditor of the Admiralty of that city, sent for and examined them very particularly concerning the events which had befallen them; minuting down their answers in writing, with an intention of publishing himself an account of their extraordinary adventures.

   2003, David Roberts, Four Against the Arctic

2. To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.

   The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance.

   1876 [1834], George Bancroft, History of the United States from the discovery of the American continent, volume VI, pages 28–29

comparative minuter · comparative more minute · superlative minutest · superlative most minute

1. Very small.

   They found only minute quantities of chemical residue on his clothing.

   Synonyms: infinitesimal, insignificant, minuscule, tiny, trace · Antonyms: big, enormous, colossal, huge, significant, tremendous, vast

2. Very careful and exact, giving small details.

   The lawyer gave the witness a minute examination.

   1 more example

   The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.

   2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist

   Synonyms: exact, exacting, excruciating, precise, scrupulous, accurate, careful, surgical