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.
-
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 pants, made from stiffer denim, proved to be slightly easier, and the robot finished the task in a little over a minute.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
If everything feels fake, maybe we’re better off getting outside and experiencing something real for a minute.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
At nearly three hours long, “You Can See Everything” won’t bore you for a minute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Already within field-goal range in the final minute, they threw the ball on both first and second downs, resulting in an incompletion and a receiver running out of bounds—stopping the clock for Jacksonville each time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
SJ sized up Kathy for a minute, then pointed at the frybread with her lips.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Grimes averaged 12.3 points, 2.5 assists and shot 53.3%, including 41.2% from three-point range, in 24.3 minutes per game in the preseason.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
It capped a vintage few months for Solskjaer's super sub legend, having bagged four in the final 10 minutes of an 8-1 win at Nottingham Forest in the February.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Her debut performance on Tuesday lasted barely 15 minutes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Her first briefing on Tuesday lasted only 14 minutes as she took questions from just three reporters at Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail, appearing flustered and disorganized.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
We are about twenty minutes deep into the wetlands before we spot a run-down wooden shack house on stilts sticking out of the water.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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
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 Isaac Disraeli
To show this to the satisfaction of the reader, would require a minuter investigation of details than our present purpose admits; yet a few instances in point may suggest others to the memory.
From English Critical Essays Nineteenth Century by Edmund David Jones
We may now examine the exchange “futures” in minuter detail.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 5 "Cosway" to "Coucy" by Various
I would have returned to the capital, to attempt tracing her by minuter enquiry; but I was deterred by poverty, and the fear of personal discovery.
From The Wanderer (Volume 5 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Fanny Burney
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
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
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
Success depends on the nicest and minutest adjustment of the parts concerned.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
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
Lentils might cook in about 30 minuted, but nothing else does.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2016
Later, I typed up our meetings, minuted them, just like the old days.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2015
They thought he had dragged himself there, with some sore internal bruise sapping away his minuted life.
From Half a Life-Time Ago by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
He writes by hand, minuting correspondence he has seen with a letter "B" followed by the Roman numeral "XVI".
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2012
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
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
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
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