- The definition of minute is very small or of little importance.
- An example of minute is a tiny stain on a pair of jeans.
- An example of minute is an insignificant point made during an argument.
- A minute is 60 seconds or a short amount of time.
- An example of minute is how long it takes to drive a mile when going 60 miles per hour.
- An example of minute is a brief period of time spent on hold.
- Minute is defined as to record the actions in a meeting or to time the exact number of minutes used to do something.
- An example of minute is to record who attended, what happened and what was voted on at a meeting.
- An example of minute is to time an Olympic swimming race.
- the sixtieth part of any of certain units; specif.,
- of an hour; sixty seconds
- of a degree of an arc; sixty seconds: symbol, ?
- a very short period of time; moment; instant
- a specific point in time
- a measure of the distance usually covered in a minute: five minutes from downtown
- a note or memorandum
- an official record of what was said and done at a meeting, convention, etc.
Origin of minuteOld French ; from Medieval Latin minuta ; from Classical Latin (pars) minuta (prima), (first) small (part), term used by Ptolemy for the sixtieth part of a unit in his system of fractions (of the circle, radius, day, later applied also to the hour): see minute
- to time to the minute
- to make a minute, or memorandum, of; record
- to put in the minutes of a meeting, etc.
the minute (that)
up to the minute
- very small; tiny
- of little importance or significance; petty; trifling
- of, characterized by, or attentive to tiny details; exact; precise
Origin of minuteMiddle English ; from Classical Latin minutus, little, small, past participle of minuere, to lessen, diminish ; from minor: see minor
- Exceptionally small; tiny. See Synonyms at small.
- Not worthy of notice; insignificant: a minute problem.
- Characterized by careful scrutiny and close examination: held a minute inspection of the grounds.
Origin of minuteMiddle English, from Latin min&umacron;tus, past participle of minuere, to lessen; see mei-2 in Indo-European roots.
- A unit of time equal to one sixtieth of an hour, or 60 seconds.
- A unit of angular measurement equal to one sixtieth of a degree, or 60 seconds. Also called arcminute, minute of arc.
- A measure of the distance one can cover in a minute: lives ten minutes from school.
- A short interval of time; moment. See Synonyms at moment.
- A specific point in time: Stop that this minute!
- A note or summary covering points to be remembered; a memorandum.
- minutes An official record of the proceedings of a meeting.
transitive verbmin·ut·ed, min·ut·ing, min·utes
Origin of minuteMiddle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin (pars) min&umacron;ta (pr&imacron;ma), (first) minute (part), from Latin min&umacron;ta, feminine of min&umacron;tus, small; see minute2.
- A unit of time equal to sixty seconds (one-sixtieth of an hour).
- You have twenty minutes to complete the test.
- A short but unspecified time period.
- Wait a minute, I'm not ready yet!
- 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.
- (in the plural, minutes) A (usually formal) written record of a meeting.
- Let's look at the minutes of last week's meeting.
- A minute of use of a telephone or other network, especially a cell phone network.
- If you buy this phone, you'll get 100 free minutes.
- A point in time; a moment.
- A nautical or a geographic mile.
- An old coin, a half farthing.
- (architecture) A fixed part of a module.
(third-person singular simple present minutes, present participle minuting, simple past and past participle minuted)
- Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.
- I'll minute this evening's meeting.
- To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.
From Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minÅ«ta (“60th of an hour", "note")
(comparative minuter, superlative minutest)
From Latin minÅ«tus (“small", "petty"), perfect passive participle of minuÅ (“make smaller").