minute
1 Americannoun
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the sixtieth part (1/60) of an hour; sixty seconds.
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an indefinitely short space of time.
Wait a minute!
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an exact point in time; instant; moment.
Come here this minute!
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minutes, the official record of the proceedings at a meeting of a society, committee, or other group.
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Chiefly British. a written summary, note, or memorandum.
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a rough draft, as of a document.
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Geometry. the sixtieth part of a degree of angular measure, often represented by the sign ′, as in 12° 10′, which is read as 12 degrees and 10 minutes.
verb (used with object)
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to time exactly, as movements or speed.
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to make a draft of (a document or the like).
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to record in a memorandum; note down.
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to enter in the minutes of a meeting.
adjective
idioms
adjective
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extremely small, as in size, amount, extent, or degree.
minute differences.
- Synonyms:
- minuscule, infinitesimal, tiny
- Antonyms:
- large
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of minor importance; insignificant; trifling.
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attentive to or concerned with even the smallest details.
a minute examination.
noun
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a period of time equal to 60 seconds; one sixtieth of an hour
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Also called: minute of arc. ′. a unit of angular measure equal to one sixtieth of a degree
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any very short period of time; moment
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a short note or memorandum
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the distance that can be travelled in a minute
it's only two minutes away
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(up-to-the-minute when prenominal) very latest or newest
verb
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to record in minutes
to minute a meeting
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to time in terms of minutes
adjective
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very small; diminutive; tiny
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unimportant; petty
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precise or detailed
a minute examination
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A unit of time equal to 1/60 of an hour or 60 seconds.
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◆ A sidereal minute is 1/60 of a sidereal hour, and a mean solar minute is 1/60 of a mean solar hour.
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See more at sidereal time solar time
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A unit of angular measurement, such as longitude or right ascension, that is equal to 1/60 of a degree or 60 seconds.
Synonym Usage
Minute, instant, moment refer to small amounts of time. A minute, properly denoting 60 seconds, is often used loosely for any very short space of time (and may be interchangeable with second ): I'll be there in just a minute. An instant is practically a point in time, with no duration, though it is also used to mean a perceptible amount of time: not an instant's delay. Moment denotes much the same as instant, though with a somewhat greater sense of duration (but somewhat less than minute ): It will only take a moment.
See little.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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minutesimple
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minutessimple
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have minutedperfect
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has minutedperfect
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am minutingprogressive
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are minutingprogressive
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is minutingprogressive
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have been minutingperfect progressive
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has been minutingperfect progressive
Past
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minutedsimple
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had minutedperfect
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was minutingprogressive
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were minutingprogressive
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had been minutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of minute1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, Middle French, from Medieval Latin minūta, noun use of feminine of minūtus minute 2
Origin of minute2
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Latin minūtus (past participle of minuere “to make smaller or fewer”), equivalent to minū- verb stem + -tus past participle suffix; see minus, minor
Explanation
Craftsmen can paint whole villages or detailed portraits of people on a grain of rice using minute, or tiny, paintbrushes. Often the works of art are so minute that you can only see them with a magnifying glass. Minutus is the Latin word for "small," and it gave rise to both the adjective minute (my-NOOT), or incredibly small, and the noun minute (MIN-it), or 60 seconds of time. Though they are pronounced differently, both words refer to small measurements. An object can be minute, like a flea compared with its dog, and less concrete things can be minute, like your minute chance of winning the lottery. A minute freckle on the side of your nose is a minute detail of your whole face.
Vocabulary lists containing minute
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hugging Face co-founder and chief science officer Thomas Wolf sensed that something was off the minute he first looked at his company’s logs of the weekend attack.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
He showed up a minute later, eyeing the contents of my shopping cart and used the cat food in it as an icebreaker to ask about my cat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Schrager said the panel had confirmed she did not intentionally use or ingest Ligandrol, and she had proved that inadvertent environmental contamination from a minute trace of Ligandrol was to blame for the positive test.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The 33-year-old has won 67 caps for his country and played every minute of Argentina's eight World Cup games, keeping two clean sheets and conceding eight goals.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
I tell Zora to go ahead and I’ll join her in a minute.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
"We literally threw everything into our suitcases and within 15 minutes were in the hire car."
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Pogacar has a dominant lead over Belgium's Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe of seven minutes 11 seconds, despite the Belgian's improved climbing form this year.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
“So then they asked me to walk down this beach, and every 10 minutes you’d hear ‘Rolling!’ and I’d have to lie down and hide behind these dunes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
A 2016 study in the scientific journal Biological Psychiatry found that dominant and impulsive men who were given supplemental testosterone were at risk of acting aggressively within 60 minutes of taking it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
For twenty minutes we tried to analyze that note.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Flyers in the race signed a last minute agreement to delay the start four days, to give opportunity for minuter mechanical overhauling, stricter sifting of entrants' abilities to fly.
From Time Magazine Archive
Human beings are, however, not merely organisms: they are the home and the habitat of minuter organisms.
From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park, Robert Ezra
Hence for the minuter study of cloud forms a more elaborate scheme is still needed.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various
Detail.—The minuter features of a design or building, especially its mouldings and carving.
From Architecture Gothic and Renaissance by Smith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)
When we scrutinise into minuter parts, we are occasionally struck by some extraordinary similarities.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac
On top of that, the game is continuously stopped while phases of play are checked by VAR for even the minutest of incidents.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025
It’s as if he had antennae that could feel the minutest vibrations across the political world.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
But 26 minutest later, at 2:06 a.m., he reported that the ship “had begun to take a great inclination to the right side, and there was great upheaval and screams.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2023
“It is, in fact, his power of observation, his eye for the minutest detail, that sets him apart not only from most baseball writers but also from most writers, period.”
From Washington Post ● May 20, 2022
As a matter of fact, every minutest detail of cathedral construction and ornamentation shared in this artistic triumph.
From The Thirteenth Greatest of Centuries by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Sir Chris said this process has been changed since Lord Mandelson's exit, to ensure a formal, minuted interview happens.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025
The Kraken seized advantage about six minuted later when Vince Dunn wound up at the left point and blistered a slap shot past Dan Vladar to tie things 1-1.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2023
I had to "stand aside" and have my objection minuted in the face of a sense of the meeting that it was proper to seek such funds.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2018
Later, I typed up our meetings, minuted them, just like the old days.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2015
After several of these in succession, Kitty opened a file which had been minuted down from another branch, M.B.
From What Not A Prophetic Comedy by Macaulay, Rose, Dame
He writes by hand, minuting correspondence he has seen with a letter "B" followed by the Roman numeral "XVI".
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2012
However, he was resolved to stick to the Great Department; and so the work of form-filling, corresponding, minuting, memorandum-making, signing, counter-signing, counter-counter-signing, referring backwards and forwards, and referring sideways, crosswise, and zig-zag, recommenced.
From Little Dorrit by Dickens, Charles
Leaving to Anthony the irksome task of minuting down the roll of time for one unlucky month, turn we to another personage with whom it is high time the reader should be acquainted.
From Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 2 by Roby, John
I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.
From Speeches: Literary and Social by Dickens, Charles
Hushed with broad sunlight lies the hill, And, minuting the long day's loss, The cedar's shadow, slow and still, Creeps o'er its dial of gray moss.
From The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell by Lowell, James Russell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
