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• part time
  part time

  noun

  a period of time that is less than full time: PT, P/T
• part-time
  part-time

  adjective

  employed, functioning, or working less than the customary or requisite number of hours.

part time

¹ American  

[pahrt tahym] / ˈpɑrt ˈtaɪm /

noun

1. a period of time that is less than full time: PT, P/T

   Thirty-five hours a week is still considered part time.

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part-time ² American  

[pahrt-tahym, pahrt-tahym] / ˈpɑrtˌtaɪm, ˈpɑrtˈtaɪm /

adjective

1. employed, functioning, or working less than the customary or requisite number of hours.

   They had only enough money to hire a part-time clerk.

2. lasting, requiring, or being in force only a part of the time.

   part-time employment;

   part-time jobs.

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adverb

1. on a part-time basis.

   to work part-time.

part-time British  

adjective

1. for less than the entire time appropriate to an activity

   a part-time job

   a part-time waitress

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adverb

1. on a part-time basis

   he works part time

Other Word Forms

• part-timer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of part time¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Origin of part-time²

First recorded in 1890–95; adjective, adverb use of part time

Explanation

Anything that's part-time is done less often than is typical or average. If you're sick of working full-time hours, try working part-time. Part-time works as an adjective or an adverb, to describe things that don't take up as much time as you might expect, just part of a day or part of a week. If you're a part-time bus driver, you might do it twenty hours each week, in between classes. You could also call yourself a part-time student, or say that you study sociology part-time.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

part time part-time

In Morocco, Aleilmi was studying business and working part time as a waiter, earning 1 euro an hour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

The question is whether Ted, working part time as the assistant manager of a supermarket, is living the best version of himself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Probably one of the biggest changes coming for undergraduate students is the way loans are calculated for students who attend college part time.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026

She said that when she is released from quarantine, she plans to fly home on a commercial flight to Florida, where she lives part time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026

The boy he had recently hired to work part time showed up early.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

If you like traveling and see yourself eventually being able to live in Mexico part-time, that is important information.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

"I am lucky I have a part-time job and can afford to fund it myself but if I didn't, it would be so difficult," she said.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

He’s been so rocked by recent tech layoffs over the past few years that he began taking part-time nursing classes at a local community college.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

But part-time service industry worker Konno Hazuki, 29, does not feel she is "about to be replaced by AI".

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

She’s working there full-time now but is going to go part-time in the fall when she starts classes at the community college.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy