time
noun (countable)
UK/taɪm/US/taɪm/
A period when a particular activity occurs.
Example Sentences
It's time for dinner.
She has a busy time ahead with all her assignments.
They enjoyed their time during the summer break.
This time of year is perfect for hiking.
He had a difficult time adjusting to the new environment.
The team is having a productive time working on the project.
She spent a relaxing time at the spa.
They went through a tough time after the incident.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
verb (transitive)
UK/taɪm/US/taɪm/
To measure or record the duration or speed of something.
Example Sentences
She timed the race to see how fast she could run.
They timed the experiment to ensure accurate results.
He timed his jump to coincide with the signal.
The chef timed the cooking process perfectly.
They timed the meeting to last no longer than an hour.
She timed her speech to fit within the allotted time.
He timed the machine to operate only during specific hours.
They timed the release of the product to maximize sales.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
How to Use
Represents the flow or span in which events occur or continue.This term has wide-ranging applications—from everyday scheduling to scientific concepts of relativity. In casual use, it helps organize life’s routines: you might say, “It’s time for dinner,” or “I don’t have much time before my appointment,” highlighting how you allocate intervals in daily activities. More formally, it can denote intervals for tasks or data collection: “We analyzed the system’s response over a 24-hour time frame.” In physics, it becomes a key dimension, forming a fourth coordinate alongside spatial measurements, emphasizing how events are ordered and durations are measured.When you discuss it, specify context—are you referencing calendar dates, clock hours, or longer historical periods? For instance, “historical time” spans centuries, whereas “reaction time” might be fractions of a second. You can also pair it with adjectives like “long,” “short,” “peak,” or “off-peak” to shape practical meaning: “We traveled at an off-peak time.” As a resource, it’s finite; phrases such as “make the most of your time” or “don’t waste time” hint at its perceived value. Meanwhile, in day-to-day life, it’s central to planning and prioritizing—reflecting how you choose to fill or ration these intervals. Whether it’s a quick break, a fixed deadline, or a historical epoch, anchoring tasks or events to specific durations or sequences helps create order and clarity in both personal schedules and broader frameworks like business operations or scientific studies.
Alternatives
You can express similar ideas with terms like “duration,” “period,” or “interval.” “Duration” emphasizes how long something lasts, e.g., “The movie’s duration is two hours.” “Period” also points to a segment, commonly seen in phrases like “during that period, sales grew.” “Era” or “epoch” often appears in historical or geological contexts, portraying vast spans that shape cultures or planetary changes. In day-to-day planning, you might hear words like “schedule” or “slot”—“I have a free slot this afternoon”—which home in on smaller blocks. Synonyms like “moment” or “instant” shrink the focus to a pinpoint of occurrence. Each of these captures a facet of the overarching concept of time, from defining precise starts and finishes to signifying expansive historical stretches. Select the term that most accurately covers the scale and context of your discourse, whether it’s a fleeting second or an entire millennium.
Writing
In writing, time can be a pivotal factor shaping narrative structure or analytical frameworks. In storytelling, it orders events within a plot: you might use timestamps or chapter breaks to move characters through days, seasons, or eras. Flashbacks, flash-forwards, and chronological sequences help readers track developments and emotional arcs, weaving a coherent timeline. Meanwhile, in essays or reports, specifying timescales—like “between 1990 and 2000” or “over the course of three years”—creates a sense of progression and supports data analysis.To keep text clear, avoid vague references: “recently” or “long ago” can be too imprecise if exact intervals matter. Instead, anchor them in date ranges or approximate spans (“in early March,” “a decade ago”). If you’re writing an academic or technical piece, adopt conventions from your field—like the ISO date format or consistent short forms (e.g., “Q1 2023”)—for clarity. Beware of overusing abstract notions (“in timeless fashion,” “time after time”) without specifics if readers need concrete context. Ultimately, selecting precise, explicit markers helps strengthen your argument, narrative flow, and thematic underpinnings, all tied to how events unfold or persist.
Casual Conversation
In day-to-day conversation, this word threads through countless phrases and idioms. You might say, “I had a great time at the party,” emphasizing the fun within a specific interval. Or you use it to outline schedules—“Let’s meet at lunch time.” Polite requests for patience often appear as “Give me a little time,” and when you encourage perseverance, you say, “Over time, you’ll see results.”It’s central to human routines—people say, “I have no time to cook tonight,” signaling constraints, or “We’ve got plenty of time; no need to rush,” reflecting freedom. In casual speech, you might hear summaries of life periods like “college time” or “vacation time,” easily compressed ideas of when certain things happen. Phrases like “take your time” show a gentle or supportive stance; “time flies” signals how fast we perceive life passing. Through all these expressions, you highlight how every activity or stage sits within a shared structure—the ticking clock, the turning calendar. Whether you’re joking about being late or sharing a past memory, time frames and orders events into a comprehensible sequence.
Etymology
The English word “time” comes from Old English “tīma,” with earlier Germanic roots linking to concepts of fixed durations or seasons. Throughout Middle English, spelling and usage varied (like “tyme”), but the core meaning—an interval during which events happen—remained. Ancient civilizations like the Sumerians and Egyptians developed early calendars, aligning human life with astronomical cycles (months, years, etc.). Across centuries, as society grew more complex, measuring time became increasingly precise: hours, minutes, and seconds, reinforced by mechanical clocks from the Middle Ages onward. With the rise of commerce, navigation, and eventually global trade, precise timekeeping mattered more than ever, leading to standardized time zones and railway timetables. Modern physics revolutionized the concept again—Einstein’s relativity linked time and space into a single continuum. Despite these scientific evolutions, “time” maintains a stable spot in common speech as a universal constant for ordering daily tasks and comprehending larger histories. Whether you discuss geological epochs or your morning routine, the idea of passing intervals to structure actions or events remains indispensable and widely recognized across cultures.
