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
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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:
“It’s affecting every minute of every day,” he said of the vision loss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Welbeck, 35, was tidy in possession but, with little service, managed only 17 touches before being substituted in the 71st minute.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
The people said Xi withdrew at the last minute from the gala held last Saturday in New Delhi on the sidelines of the Brics summit, a gathering of emerging-market nations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
“The minute I turned in ‘We Love You, Bunny,’ I missed the characters and the world,” Awad reflects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
“Oh, wait a minute now, I can throw down in the kitchen, too!”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
The max charging rate of 150 kW pencils out to a 10%-80% recharge in 28 minutes, under ideal conditions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
"The more I reflect on it, it's maybe more buying into our strengths and playing more minutes like we played in the second half against Croatia and the first half against France," said Tuchel.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
But know only that in its opening minutes we learn that we have been swindled and are now part of a ritual of sorts to summon said alien.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
There are only minutes until dinnertime on the East Coast.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
If I skip brushing my hair and finding anything to eat—not difficult, as my stomach feels as though it would reject food anyway—I might be only a few minutes late to work.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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
An apparently blended character or a prepotent character may on analysis turn out to be due to the inheritance of a certain proportion of minuter characters derived exclusively from either parent.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various
The Lens and Microscope.—In the examination of the minuter forms of insect life the naked eye is not sufficient, and a hand-lens, or, for more delicate work, the compound microscope will be found necessary.
From Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects by C. V. Riley
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
But probably he means one of the minuter species.
From The Romance of Natural History, Second Series by Philip Henry Gosse
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
Lt Col Hollington put together the programme for their whole-day visit, including all the preparations, which were executed to the minutest detail.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2022
“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
Such are the salt of the earth; let the minutest crystal of that salt be willingly by us held in solution.
From Life Without and Life Within or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and poems. by Margaret Fuller
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
Political cabinet involves discussion of strategy - more political officials attend and it's not minuted like official government business.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 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
With alacrity they minuted me on from one to another till I felt as if "passed to you, please" had been scrawled all over me.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, June 23, 1920 by Various
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
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
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
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.
