wait a minute
Idioms-
Stop, I want to say something, as in Wait a minute—he wasn't there yesterday .
-
What a surprise, as in Wait a minute! It was you who called the police? For a similar phrase, see hold everything .
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.
Then I thought, wait a minute, didn’t I buy something earlier this week?
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
And Marlee’s joking, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I’m the Oscar winner!’
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
"Like, wait a minute, you didn't pay anything at all, and yet you still have complaints?" she said with a snicker.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
"I thought, wait a minute, shopping has become the national pastime, and nobody has written about it," Kinsella said of her bestselling series.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
It would be so hard for him to recede into the background . . . 7TH JUROR: Now, wait a minute.
From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose
![]()
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.