minute
1 Americannoun
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minutes
plural
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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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minutes,
present (3rd person singular)
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minuted,
past participle, past
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minuting
present participle
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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
-
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:
The shallow tremor was felt across the Central American nation of around 4.5 million people, according to the National Civil Protection System, and lasted for around a minute.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
As that center shifts, scientists can detect minute changes in the distances between orbiting satellites and tracking stations on the ground.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Meanwhile Sydney Leroux, 35, who has played one minute the past two seasons as she deals with mental health issues, is signed through 2027.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Prof Nazanin Derakhshan, a neuroscientist at Birkbeck, University of London, suggests focusing on six breaths per minute before presenting.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Tansy swept up Little Britches, who’d be crying herself sick in another minute, and held her tight.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
The two sides had surpassed 100 points on the scoreboard with 15 minutes remaining and continued to showcase unstoppable, attacking flair as the play went end-to-end.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
After a prolonged wait to charge a drained battery, the aircraft took another 10 minutes to get airborne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Sleightholme completed his hat-trick four minutes later and while Bayliss kept Bath in touch to close the gap to 57-48, it did not last as Saints had more in the tank.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 17 minutes Playing: Opens Friday, Oct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Where ten minutes earlier I’d been burning with fever, now I was shaking with cold.
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
We are prepared for even minuter detail; the paganism will be Nat-worship; the Indian creed Buddhism: the alphabet also, where the language is written, will be Indian also.
From The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
Early in his illness the god instructed him to record its details, and he obeyed with zest, though in after years he was not always able to record the minuter points with complete clearness.
From The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire by T. R. (Terrot Reaveley) Glover
Detail.—The minuter features of a design or building, especially its mouldings and carving.
From Architecture Gothic and Renaissance by T. Roger (Thomas Roger) Smith
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 Robert Ezra Park
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 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
Our changes of attitude aren’t because we are anthropomorphizing our own longing onto them; every creature, from the minutest to the massive, wants to escape from pain and death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
The responsibilities included many works of art, including the bust that Hill’s friends described as “so faithful a likeness, down to the minutest detail of resemblance and personality, as to be startling.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2017
It must be suited to its idiosyncrasy, even in the minutest points, or it will crack and fall.
From The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, November 1879 by Various
The SNP minister said the meeting was minuted but would be subject to “special considerations that relate to intergovernmental relations”.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2024
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
The newly minuted “I Dough, I Dough” ice cream has a fitting new label and updated packaging showcasing two cows wearing top hats with their tales intertwined to show solidarity and unity.
From MSNBC ● Jun. 27, 2015
This minuted account I give to your Excellency to show you that nothing on our part has been wanting for the success of the expedition.
From Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette by Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette
He writes by hand, minuting correspondence he has seen with a letter "B" followed by the Roman numeral "XVI".
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2012
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 James Russell Lowell
I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.
From Speeches: Literary and Social by Charles Dickens
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 John Roby
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 Charles Dickens
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.
