Meanings
- idiomaticin a hurry, without spare time.
He seemed to be pressed for time and I gathered that telephoning at all was rather risky.
1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London2 more examples
So as neither of them were particularly pressed for time, as it happened, and the temperature refreshing since it cleared up after the recent visitation of Jupiter Pluvius, they dandered along past by where the empty vehicle was waiting without a fare or a jarvey
Episode 16But as our urban lives have grown more pressed for time, we have diced our opportunity costs finer and finer; from budgeting days or slabs of hours, we have come to rationing minutes.
2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian
Cite this entry
pressed for time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pressed%20for%20time
“pressed for time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pressed%20for%20time. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pressed for time,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pressed%20for%20time.
Source: pressed for time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.