face time

American  

[feys-tahym] / ˈfeɪsˌtaɪm /

Or facetime

noun

Informal.

1. time spent speaking or meeting with one or more people face to face, in contrast to phone conversations or other means of communication.

   Is he available for a couple of hours of face time?

2. time spent appearing on television, in movies, or in other visual media.

   The candidates had some good face time with a national audience.

3. the amount of time an employee spends in the office or other workplace.

   If you work from home, make sure you put in face time once in a while.

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face time British  

noun

1. the time spent dealing with someone else face to face, esp in a place of work

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Etymology

Origin of face time

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

For more complicated returns, you might have dropped off your paperwork and come back later to sign, but you still would have had some face time with the preparer.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026

But if you observe that the co-workers who stand out are the ones with the most face time, it could be worth pulling on real pants and pulling into the office parking lot.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025

None of his predecessors as first minister have been afforded that amount of face time.

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2025

They were there in my darkest hours — when my parents died, they let me win my next show so I could use the 30-second face time to memorialize them.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025

Suddenly my friends are on the screen, waving, angling for face time, hamming it up.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen