minutes

British  

/ ˈmɪnɪts /

plural noun

1. an official record of the proceedings of a meeting, conference, convention, etc

---

Explanation

Minutes are notes that are taken at a meeting and often distributed to participants. Often, the secretary of an organization or club is the person who gets stuck taking the minutes. The best minutes provide a summary of the most important items that were discussed during a meeting. Parent-teacher organizations, city councils, and court hearings all include someone who takes minutes. In the case of a hearing, every single word spoken in the courtroom, unless specifically excluded by the judge, is included in the minutes. The Latin root of minutes is minuta scriptura, "rough notes," or "small writing."

Example Sentences

Does it encourage her dream, or take eight minutes to put them down?

From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026

Participants drank a sugary solution, and blood samples were collected every five minutes over a four-hour period.

From Science Daily • Jun. 5, 2026

Within minutes, we were no longer talking about furniture.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026

The consultation that lands Susanna in McLean lasts just 15 minutes, with the paternalistic doctor suggesting that she will be there for a “few days.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

Long minutes went by, the longest of my life, and still Karli did not respond.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo