Jump To:

• full time
  full time

  noun

  the number of hours in a period, as a day, week, or month, considered customary for pursuing an activity, especially working at a job: FT, F/T
• full-time
  full-time

  adjective

  working or operating the customary or requisite number of hours in each day, week, or month.

full time

¹ American  

[fool tahym] / ˈfʊl ˈtaɪm /

noun

1. the number of hours in a period, as a day, week, or month, considered customary for pursuing an activity, especially working at a job: FT, F/T

   The factory now operates on full time.

---

full-time ² American  

[fool-tahym] / ˈfʊlˈtaɪm /

adjective

1. working or operating the customary or requisite number of hours in each day, week, or month.

   a full-time housekeeper;

   full-time production.

2. being indefinitely employed by one company for the customary or requisite number of hours.

   Only full-time employees are eligible for healthcare.

---

adverb

1. on a full-time basis; on a schedule corresponding to the customary number of working or operational hours.

full-time ¹ British  

adjective

1. for the entire time appropriate to an activity

   a full-time job

   a full-time student

---

adverb

1. on a full-time basis

   he works full time

full time ² British  

noun

1. the end of a football or other match Compare half-time

---

Other Word Forms

• full-timer
  noun

---

Etymology

Origin of full time¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Origin of full-time²

First recorded in 1895–1900

---

Explanation

If you do something full-time, you spend most of your available time doing it. Working full-time usually means spending around forty hours a week doing your work. You can be employed at a full-time job, or you can be a full-time student. Some people are full-time parents, and you might hope to be a full-time artist or a full-time musician one day. In all of these examples, people use the majority of their waking hours (at least during the work week) focusing on one thing. This term dates from the late 1800s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

full time full-time

Despite having renovated the home and lived there full time for two years at that point, she admitted that the photo wall remained unfinished.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

Yorkshire Water said Medalova would join the company on Monday as part of a transition period before assuming the chief executive officer role full time in the new year.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

By 2021, she quit the school to focus full time on the bike shop.

From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026

Golodryga, 48, arrived at CNN as a contributor in 2017 and joined the network full time two years later.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Upon his return he gave up his previous research problem and was devoting full time to phage.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

Buelna and another candidate accused Winston of misleading the public by describing himself as an architect and an educator during the campaign when his full-time job is deputy mayor of infrastructure and climate resilience.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Rather than hand their data and workflows to a vendor’s FDE, enterprises are putting them on the payroll full-time, The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Belle Lin reports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

Carmichael said there should be restoration of a full-time presence to support the unit and more reserves should be recruited in the northern isles as numbers were low.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

She opened a vintage store, which had few customers, and otherwise hadn’t had a full-time job since.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

I’m getting good grades, working his stupid full-time job, and saving for college.

From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---