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Time is money

Cultural  

  1. If we don't use our working time to earn money, we are in effect losing money.

time is money Idioms  

  1. One's time is a valuable commodity, as in I can't stay home and wait any longer; time is money, you know. This proverbial term goes back to one first recorded in 1572, time is precious, in a discourse on usury.

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.

If time is money, and money is power, then who these characters spend their time with directly correlates to how wealthy and financially secure they can become.

From Salon • Mar. 1, 2026

Deployment is really fast, and time is money in oil fields.

From Barron's • Jan. 16, 2026

You’re frustrated because your time is money, especially your leisure time.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 29, 2025

Time is a central dimension of present-day lifestyles and popular expressions such as "time is money" or "spending time" showcase the importance humans attribute to time.

From Science Daily • Mar. 6, 2024

Do-overs mean time, and everyone in business knows that time is money.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

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.