minute - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English mynute, minute, mynet, from Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minūta (“60th of an hour; note”). Doublet of menu and menudo.

minute (plural minutes)

  1. A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds).
    Alternative forms: min (least ambiguous symbol); m, M (symbols also widely used)
    Holonyms: hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
    Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond
    You have twenty minutes to complete the test.
    • 2024 November 15, Kristen Rogers, “Want to live an extra 5 to 10 years? Adopt this habit, study suggests”, in CNN‎[1], archived from the original on 11 July 2025:
      Total activity levels in the lowest quartile were equivalent to walking for 49 minutes at roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) per hour daily. Total activity levels in the second-, third- and fourth-highest quartiles were equivalent to 78, 105 and 160 minutes, respectively.
  2. (informal) A short but unspecified time period.
    Synonyms: instant, jiffy, mo, moment, sec, second, tic; see also Thesaurus:moment
    give me a minute
    Wait a minute, I’m not ready yet!
  3. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.
    Synonyms: minute of arc, sexagesm, arcminute
    We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.
  4. (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.
    • 2008, Pink Dandelion, The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction, page 52:
      The Clerk or 'recording Clerk' drafts a minute and then, or at a later time, reads it to the Meeting. Subsequent contributions are on the wording of the minute only, until it can be accepted by the Meeting. Once the minute is accepted, the Meeting moves on to the next item on the agenda.
  5. 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.
  6. A point in time; a moment.
    Synonyms: instant, moment; see also Thesaurus:point in time
    • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe:
      Tell her, that I some Certainty may bring; / I go this minute to attend the king.
  7. A nautical or a geographic mile.
  8. An old coin, a half farthing.
  9. (obsolete) A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a whit.
    • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of the Probable or Thinking Conscience.”, in Ductor Dubitantium, or, The Rule of Conscience in all her Generall Measures Serving as a Great Instrument for the Determination of Cases of Conscience‎[2], volume 1:
      […] according to the Prophecies of him, which were so clear and descended to minutes and circumstances of his passion
  10. (architecture) A fixed part of a module.
  11. (slang, US, Canada, dialectal) A while or a long unspecified period of time.
    Synonyms: age, spell; see also Thesaurus:eon
    Oh, I ain't heard that song in a minute!
  1. The distance that can be traveled in a minute.

Borrowings

unit of time

short but unspecified period of time

record of meeting

minute of use of telephone network

Translations to be checked

minute (third-person singular simple present minutes, present participle minuting, simple past and past participle minuted)

  1. (transitive) Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.
    I’ll minute this evening’s meeting.
    • 1870 [1855 June 27], Charles Dickens, “Administrative Reform”, in Speeches Literary and Social‎[5], page 133:
      I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.
    • 1995, Edmund Dell, The Schuman Plan and the British Abdication of Leadership in Europe‎[6]:
      On 17 November 1949 Jay minuted Cripps, arguing that trade liberalization on inessentials was socially regressive.
    • 1996, Peter Hinchliffe, The Other Battle‎[7]:
      The Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command, Sir Richard Peirse, was sceptical of its findings, minuting, ‘I don’t think at this rate we could have hoped to produce the damage which is known to have been achieved.’
    • 2003, David Roberts, Four Against the Arctic‎[8]:
      Mr. Klingstadt, chief Auditor of the Admiralty of that city, sent for and examined them very particularly concerning the events which had befallen them; minuting down their answers in writing, with an intention of publishing himself an account of their extraordinary adventures.
  2. To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.
    • 1876 [1834], George Bancroft, History of the United States from the discovery of the American continent‎[9], volume VI, pages 28–29:
      The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance.

to write the minutes of

to set down a short sketch or note of; to make a brief summary of

Borrowed from Latin minūtus (“small", "petty”), perfect passive participle of minuō (“make smaller”).

minute (comparative minuter or more minute, superlative minutest or most minute)

  1. Very small.
    Synonyms: infinitesimal, insignificant, minuscule, tiny, trace; see also Thesaurus:tiny
    Antonyms: big, enormous, colossal, huge, significant, tremendous, vast
    They found only minute quantities of chemical residue on his clothing.
  2. Very careful and exact, giving small details.
    Synonyms: exact, exacting, excruciating, precise, scrupulous; see also Thesaurus:meticulous
    The lawyer gave the witness a minute examination.
    • 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:
      The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.

very small

very careful and exact, giving small details

minute

  1. plural of minuut

From minuto +‎ -e.

minute

  1. Lasting for a very short period; briefly, momentarily
    • 1929, L. L. Zamenhof, edited by Johannes Dietterle, Originala Verkaro [Original Oeuvre]:
      [...] kaj de nun ni pri ĉiuj minute kreskantaj projektoj absolute silentados.
      and from now on we will be completely silent about all the briefly growing projects.

Inherited from Old French minute, borrowed from Latin minūta. Compare menu, an inherited doublet.

minute f (plural minutes)

  1. minute (etymology 1, time unit, all same senses)

minute

  1. wait a sec!

minute

  1. inflection of minuter:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

minute

  1. feminine plural of minuto

minūte

  1. vocative masculine singular of minūtus

minute

  1. alternative form of mynute

Borrowed from Medieval Latin minūta.

minute oblique singular, f (oblique plural minutes, nominative singular **minute, nominative plural minutes)

  1. minute (one sixtieth of an hour)
    Coordinate terms: segont, eure, jor, semaine, an

minute

  1. inflection of minutar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

minute

  1. plural of minut