Minute

Pronunciation

• enPR: mÄ­n'Ä­t, IPA: /ˈmɪnɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪnɪt

From Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minūta ("60th of an hour", "note")

Full definition of minute

Noun

1. A unit of time equal to sixty seconds (one-sixtieth of an hour).You have twenty minutes to complete the test.
2. A short but unspecified time period.Wait a minute, I’m not ready yet!
3. 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.
4. (in the plural, minutes) A (usually formal) written record of a meeting.Let’s look at the minutes of last week’s meeting.
5. 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.
6. A point in time; a moment.
• DrydenI 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.
• Jeremy Taylorminutes and circumstances of his passion
10. (architecture) A fixed part of a module.

Related terms

• arcminute

Derived terms

• minute bell
• minute book
• minute glass
• minute gun

Synonyms

• (short, unspecified period of time) instant, jiffy, mo, moment, sec, second, tic
• (unit of angular measure) minute of arc

Verb

1. (transitive) Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.I’ll minute this evening’s meeting.
• Charles DickensI dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and dispatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.
• 1995, Edmund Dell, The Schuman Plan and the British Abdication of Leadership in Europe http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=us6DpQrcaVEC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&sig=8WYGZFKFxIhE4WPCpVkzDvHpO1AOn 17 November 1949 Jay minuted Cripps, arguing that trade liberalization on inessentials was socially regressive.
• 1996, Peter Hinchliffe, The Other Battle http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=vxBK8kHLTyIC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&sig=lXg1Kvn_f1KsmB4gdOv51h5nu8IThe 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 http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=yPsgKV7zo_kC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&sig=WNGXG6bM-ja8NDueqgtdNrCkslMMr. 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.
• BancroftThe Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance.

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: mÄ«nyoÍžot', IPA: /maɪˈnjuːt/
• US enPR: mÄ«n(y)oÍžot', IPA: /maɪˈn(j)ut/
• Rhymes: -uːt

From Latin minūtus ("small", "petty"), perfect passive participle of minuō ("make smaller").

Adjective

1. Very small.
   They found only minute quantities of chemical residue on his clothing.
2. Very careful and exact, giving small details.
• 2013, Fenella Saunders, Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture, 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.
3. The lawyer gave the witness a minute examination.

Synonyms

• (small)
• infinitesimal, insignificant, minuscule, tiny, trace
• (exact)
• exact, exacting, excruciating, precise, scrupulous

Antonyms

• big, enormous, colossal, huge, significant, tremendous, vast

Anagrams

• minuet
• untime