minute
UK [maɪ̯ˈnjuːt] · US [maɪ̯ˈn(j)u̟(ː)t] noun, verb, adjective
Forms minutes minuting minuted minuter minutest
- noun A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds). “You have twenty minutes to complete the test.”
- noun (informal) A short but unspecified time period. “give me a minute”
- noun A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree. “We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.”
- noun (chiefly in the plural, minutes) A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting. “Let’s look at the minutes of last week’s meeting.”
- noun A unit of purchase on a telephone or other similar network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network. “If you buy this model, you’ll get 100 free minutes.”
- noun A point in time; a moment. “I conked out the minute I got home.”
- noun A nautical or a geographic mile.
- noun An old coin, a half farthing.
- verb (transitive) Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting. “I’ll minute this evening’s meeting.”
- verb To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.
- adjective Very small. “They found only minute quantities of chemical residue on his clothing.”
- adjective Very careful and exact, giving small details. “The lawyer gave the witness a minute examination.”
Synonyms
instant jiffy mo moment sec second tic bat of an eye bit blink of an eye crack eyeblink flash glimpse half a mo jiff jot New York minute New York second no time min arcminute minute of arc hour infinitesimal narrow
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English mynute, minute, mynet, from Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minūta (“60th of an hour; note”). Doublet of menu and menudo.
Borrowed from Latin minūtus (“small", "petty”), perfect passive participle of minuō (“make smaller”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. m.; as, 4 h. 30 m.) Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour. Chaucer.
- noun The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus (`); as, 10º 20`.)
- adjective Of or pertaining to a minute or minutes; occurring at or marking successive minutes. Minute bell, a bell tolled at intervals of a minute, as to give notice of a death or a funeral.
- verb To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of. The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance. Bancroft.
Etymology [LL. minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. minutus small: cf. F. minute. See 4th Minute.]
Etymology [imp. & p. p. Minuted; p. pr. & vb. n. Minuting.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “minute”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details