minute1
/ˈmɪnɪt
/noun
1A period of time equal to sixty seconds or a sixtieth of an hour: we waited for twenty minutes I’ll be there in ten minutes' time...
- Use different units: months, weeks and days, even hours, minutes and seconds.
- Keighley had to play the first ten minutes of the second period with only 14 men.
- Gavin Chapman came in with an overall time of four hours, twenty five minutes and nine seconds.
1.1The distance covered in a minute by someone driving or walking: the hotel is situated just ten minutes from the centre of the resort...
- If you're prepared to walk a few minutes from the harbour, car parking is free.
- This house is within walking distance of the city centre, a few minutes from Herbert Park.
- No young child should have to attend a primary school 45 minutes walking distance away.
1.2 informal A very short time: come and sit down for a minute...
- Think about the bit in the brackets for a minute.
- Well, let's get to Mohamed Atta for a minute because you mentioned him as well.
- And then, once they'd turned their backs for a minute to do something else, we could see my pizza catch fire and eventually blacken to a cinder.
Synonyms
moment, short time, little while, second, bit, instant
informal sec, nanosecond, jiffy, jiff
British informal tick, mo, two ticks
1.3A point in time: she was laughing one minute and crying the next...
- It is amazing that your life can turn in an instant, one minute enjoying a social event, the next lying face down in the gutter, or in a cell somewhere.
- One minute you're angry and the next minute you're happy.
Synonyms
point in time, point, moment, instant, time, juncture, stage
2 (also arc minute or minute of arc) A sixtieth of a degree of angular measurement (symbol: ʹ): Delta Lyrae is a double star with a separation of over 10 minutes of arc...
- To have any chance of affecting a pilot's vision, a would-be terrorist would have to be capable of keeping the beam pointed to an accuracy of 3 minutes of arc, one-tenth the diameter of a Full Moon.
- He had just invented a new instrument: a prototype sextant with arms nearly six feet in length and a scale graduated to single minutes of arc.
- But Kepler found a discrepancy of eight minutes of arc between the observed and predicted positions of the planet.
Phrases
any minute (or at any minute)
at the minute
by the minute
just (or wait) a minute
the minute (or the minute that)
not for a minute
this minute (or this very minute)
Origin
Late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin minuta, feminine (used as a noun) of minutus 'made small'. The senses 'period of sixty seconds' and 'sixtieth of a degree' derive from medieval Latin pars minuta prima 'first minute part'.
English words spelled minute have two different pronunciations and entered English by different routes, but share an origin in Latin minutus ‘small’, the source also of mince, menu, and many other words. The closest to the original Latin sense is minute ‘small’. The minute referring to a period of 60 seconds comes through medieval Latin pars minuta prima ‘first minute part’. The use of minute in the minutes of a meeting goes back to the times before printing, when a scribe would make a rough version of a record or memorandum in ‘small writing’ (Latin scriptura minuta) before the fair copy was made in the more formal style of writing called ‘book hand’. See also hour, second
Rhymes
minute2
/mʌɪˈnjuːt/adjective (minutest)
1Extremely small: minute particles...
- Resuscitation may have dislodged it and allowed minute food particles to pass into the lower respiratory tract.
- Nothing whatsoever, not even the most minute particle, exists independently or permanently on its own.
- Saudi Arabia has more Red Sea coastline than any other nation, yet only a minute fraction is accessible to divers.
Synonyms
tiny, minuscule, microscopic, nanoscopic, very small, little, micro, diminutive, miniature, baby, toy, midget, dwarf, pygmy, Lilliputian;
Scottish wee
informal teeny, teeny-weeny, teensy, teensy-weensy, weeny, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, eensy, eensy-weensy, tiddly, pint-sized, bite-sized, knee-high to a grasshopper
British informal titchy
North American informal little-bitty
1.1So small as to be insignificant: he will have no more than a minute chance of exercising influence...
- In some places this process was for a time so minute and insignificant that it escaped detection.
- Manchester United matched the form of Chelsea for the majority of that period, keeping them in with a minute chance of overtaking them in the title race.
- I know far too many bits of minute trivia having to do with the Star Trek series and films.
Synonyms
negligible, slight, infinitesimal, minimal, trifling, trivial, paltry, petty, insignificant, inappreciable
informal piffling, piddling
North American informal picayune
1.2(Of an investigation or account) taking the smallest points into consideration; precise and meticulous: a minute examination of the islands...
- His winning is no longer a story, his losing guarantees him a hard time and minute analysis of everything from his serve to his choice of coach.
- The small percipient eyes are screwed up, and wrinkled from his repeated minute scrutinies.
- The pair had camped in the video room for most of the night, watching the security tapes with minute scrutiny.
Synonyms
exhaustive, painstaking, systematic, meticulous, rigorous, scrupulous, punctilious, detailed;
close, fine, strict, exact, precise, accurate, critical
Derivatives
minuteness
/ noun ...- John Stuart Mill remarked that Grote's History was written ‘with the precision and minuteness of one who neither desires nor expects that anything will be taken upon trust’.
- In technical perfection and minuteness of detail, Sánchez Coello's courtly portraits are comparable to those of the best contemporary Netherlandish masters.
- The minuteness of detail, especially in early accounts, indicates that this suggestion must have been seen as a real threat.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'lesser', with reference to a tithe or tax): from Latin minutus 'lessened', past participle of minuere.
minute3
/ˈmɪnɪt/noun
1 (minutes) A summarized record of the proceedings at a meeting: Pat is taking the minutes...
- The only written record are the minutes of the meeting taken by Mr Wilson.
- The minutes of the meeting record a two-minute silence, followed by a motion to close.
- Secretary has the normal secretarial work of convening meetings and recording minutes.
Synonyms
record(s), proceedings, log, notes, transactions, account;
transcript, summary, résumé
2An official memorandum authorizing or recommending a course of action.An office minute recommending dissolution of this forum to take effect from early April 2007 is being drafted for Second Commissioner approval....
- It is suggested that all the trustees unanimously sign the Financial Statements, or unanimously sign a Minute authorizing an individual to sign the Financial Statements on behalf of the trust.
verb [with object]
1Record (the proceedings of a meeting): the Secretary shall minute the proceedings of each meeting...
- Incredibly, not a single meeting is minuted, and no recordings are made.
- As the meeting was not minuted, I wrote a letter to you after this meeting to ensure that there would be no misunderstanding.
- I don't recall who asked the question, or if the meeting was properly minuted, but the response was that the traffic model showed that Staverton would be a ‘pinch-point somewhere that drivers would avoid’.
2Send a memorandum to (someone): look up the case and minute me about it...
- Private Secretary minuted me on 31 May to say that the Minister was sure this was the right approach.
- Strangely enough, my executive minuted me that it was very upset about that, but it did not do a great deal about it.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the singular in the sense 'note or memorandum'): from French minute, from the notion of a rough copy in ‘small writing’ (Latin scriptura minuta) as distinct from the fair copy in book hand. The verb dates from the mid 16th century.