Minuteman
Americannoun
plural
Minutemen-
(sometimes lowercase) a member of a group of American militiamen just before and during the Revolutionary War who held themselves in readiness for instant military service.
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a U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile with three stages, powered by solid-propellant rocket engines.
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a member of a small, secret, ultraconservative organization formed into armed groups for the declared purpose of conducting guerrilla warfare against a communist invasion of the U.S.
noun
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(sometimes not capital) (in the War of American Independence) a colonial militiaman who promised to be ready to fight at one minute's notice
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a US three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile
Etymology
Origin of Minuteman
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.
Ed Bouquillon noticed more students from affluent families at Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School in upscale Lexington as parents’ attitudes shifted.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025
If you go back 20 to 30 years earlier than that, it was the B-52 and the Minuteman.
From Salon • Dec. 7, 2025
The Minuteman missiles are old; they were first deployed in 1970.
From Slate • Sep. 16, 2025
Starting in 2029, the Air Force intends to begin gradually replacing the Minuteman III with a modernized arsenal of LG-35A Sentinel missiles.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2025
We more than doubled our acquisition rate of Polaris submarines—we doubled the production capacity for Minuteman missiles—and increased by 50 percent the number of manned bombers standing ready on a 15 minute alert.
From State of the Union Address by Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald)
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.
