TIME

(~s, timing, ~d)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

Time is what we measure in minutes, hours, days, and years.

...a two-week period of ~...

Time passed, and still Ma did not appear...

The social significance of religion has changed over ~.

N-UNCOUNT

2.

You use ~ to ask or talk about a specific point in the day, which can be stated in hours and minutes and is shown on clocks.

‘What ~ is it?’—‘Eight o’clock.’...

He asked me the ~...

What ~ did he leave?...

The ~ is now 19 minutes past the hour.

N-SING: wh/ the N

3.

The ~ when something happens is the point in the day when it happens or is supposed to happen.

Departure ~s are 08:15 from St Quay, and 18:15 from St Helier.

N-COUNT

see also opening ~

4.

You use ~ to refer to the system of expressing ~ and counting hours that is used in a particular part of the world.

The incident happened just after ten o’clock local ~.

N-UNCOUNT: supp N

5.

You use ~ to refer to the period that you spend doing something or when something has been happening.

Adam spent a lot of ~ in his grandfather’s office...

He wouldn’t have the ~ or money to take care of me...

Listen to me, I haven’t got much ~...

The route was blocked for some ~...

For a long ~ I didn’t tell anyone...

A short ~ later they sat down to eat...

N-UNCOUNT: also a N

6.

If you say that something has been happening for a ~, you mean that it has been happening for a fairly long period of ~.

He stayed for quite a ~...

After a ~ they came to a pond.

N-SING: a N

7.

You use ~ to refer to a period of ~ or a point in ~, when you are describing what is happening then. For example, if something happened at a particular ~, that is when it happened. If it happens at all ~s, it always happens.

We were in the same college, which was male-only at that ~...

By this ~ he was thirty...

It was a ~ of terrible uncertainty...

Homes are more affordable than at any ~ in the past five years...

It seemed like a good ~ to tell her...

N-COUNT: with supp, oft prep N

8.

You use ~ or ~s to talk about a particular period in history or in your life.

We’ll be alone together, quite like old ~s...

We are in one of the most severe recessions in modern ~s...

N-COUNT: with supp, usu adj N, N of n

9.

You can use the ~s to refer to the present ~ and to modern fashions, tastes, and developments. For example, if you say that someone keeps up with the ~s, you mean they are fashionable or aware of modern developments. If you say they are behind the ~s, you mean they are unfashionable or not aware of them.

This approach is now seriously out of step with the ~s...

Johnny has changed his image to fit the ~s.

N-PLURAL: the N

10.

When you describe the ~ that you had on a particular occasion or during a particular part of your life, you are describing the sort of experience that you had then.

Sarah and I had a great ~ while the kids were away...

She’s had a really tough ~ the last year and a half...

N-COUNT: adj N

11.

Your ~ is the amount of ~ that you have to live, or to do a particular thing.

Now Martin has begun to suffer the effects of AIDS, and he says his ~ is running out...

N-SING: poss N

12.

If you say it is ~ for something, ~ to do something, or ~ you did something, you mean that this thing ought to happen or be done now.

Opinion polls indicated a feeling among the public that it was ~ for a change...

It was ~ for him to go to work...

This was no ~ to make a speech...

N-UNCOUNT: oft N for n, N to-inf, N that

13.

When you talk about a ~ when something happens, you are referring to a specific occasion when it happens.

Every ~ she travels on the bus it’s delayed by at least three hours...

The last ~ I saw her was about sixteen years ago...

N-COUNT: with supp

14.

You use ~ after numbers to say how often something happens.

It was her job to make tea three ~s a day...

N-COUNT: usu num/ord N

15.

You use ~s after numbers when comparing one thing to another and saying, for example, how much bigger, smaller, better, or worse it is.

Its profits are rising four ~s faster than the average company...

...an area five ~s the size of Britain.

N-PLURAL: num N compar, num N as adj/adv, num N n

16.

You use ~s in arithmetic to link numbers or amounts that are multiplied together to reach a total.

Four ~s six is 24.

CONJ

17.

Someone’s ~ in a race is the amount of ~ it takes them to finish the race.

He was over a second faster than his previous best ~...

N-COUNT: with supp, oft poss N, N of n

18.

The ~ of a piece of music is the number of beats that the piece has in each bar.

A reel is in four-four ~, and a jig is in six-eight ~.

N-UNCOUNT: usu supp N, oft in N

19.

If you ~ something for a particular ~, you plan or decide to do it or cause it to happen at this ~.

He ~d the election to coincide with new measures to boost the economy...

We had ~d our visit for March 7...

He had ~d his intervention well...

Operation Amazon is ~d to coincide with the start of the dry season.

VERB: V n to-inf, V n for n, V n adv, V-ed, also V n

20.

If you ~ an action or activity, you measure how long someone takes to do it or how long it lasts.

He ~d each performance with a stop-watch.

VERB: V n

21.

see also timing

22.

If you say it is about ~ that something was done, you are saying in an emphatic way that it should happen or be done now, and really should have happened or been done sooner.

It’s about ~ a few movie makers with original ideas were given a chance...

PHRASE: it v-link PHR that, PHR as reply emphasis

23.

If you do something ahead of ~, you do it before a particular event or before you need to, in order to be well prepared.

Find out ahead of ~ what regulations apply to your situation.

PHRASE: PHR after v

24.

If someone is ahead of their ~ or before their ~, they have new ideas a long ~ before other people start to think in the same way.

My mother was ahead of her ~. She surrounded me with culture and art.

PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR in -ing

25.

If something happens or is done all the ~, it happens or is done continually.

We can’t be together all the ~...

= continually

PHRASE: PHR after v

26.

You say at a ~ after an amount to say how many things or how much of something is involved in one action, place, or group.

Beat in the eggs, one at a ~...

PHRASE: amount PHR

27.

If something could happen at any ~, it is possible that it will happen very soon, though nobody can predict exactly when.

Conditions are still very tense and the fighting could escalate at any ~.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

28.

You say at the best of ~s when you are making a negative or critical comment to emphasize that it is true even when the circumstances are as favourable as possible.

A trade war would be bad at the best of ~s, but in the current economic climate, it would be a disaster.

PHRASE: PHR with cl emphasis

29.

If you say that something was the case at one ~, you mean that it was the case during a particular period in the past.

At one ~ 400 men, women and children lived in the village.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

30.

If two or more things exist, happen, or are true at the same ~, they exist, happen, or are true together although they seem to contradict each other.

I was afraid of her, but at the same ~ I really liked her...

PHRASE: PHR with cl

31.

At the same ~ is used to introduce a statement that slightly changes or contradicts the previous statement.

I don’t think I set out to come up with a different sound for each album. At the same ~, I do have a sense of what is right for the moment.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

32.

You use at ~s to say that something happens or is true on some occasions or at some moments.

The debate was highly emotional at ~s...

PHRASE: PHR with cl/group

33.

If you say that something was before your ~, you mean that it happened or existed before you were born or before you were able to know about it or remember it.

‘You’ve never seen the Marilyn Monroe film?’—‘No, I think it was a bit before my ~.’

PHRASE: usu v-link PHR

34.

If someone has reached a particular stage in life before their ~, they have reached it at a younger age than is normal.

The small print has forced me, years before my ~, to buy spectacles...

PHRASE: PHR after v

35.

If you say not before ~ after a statement has been made about something that has been done, you are saying in an emphatic way that you think it should have been done sooner. (BRIT)

The virus is getting more and more attention, and not before ~...

PHRASE: PHR with cl emphasis

36.

If you call ~ on something, you end it. (mainly BRIT JOURNALISM)

Scott Hastings has called ~ on his international career by cutting short his contract.

PHRASE: V inflects

37.

Someone who is doing ~ is in prison. (INFORMAL)

He is serving 11 years for robbery, and did ~ for a similar offence before that.

PHRASE: V inflects

38.

If you say that something will be the case for all ~, you mean that it will always be the case.

The desperate condition of the world is that madness has always been here, and that it will remain so for all ~.

PHRASE: usu PHR with v, PHR with group

39.

If something is the case or will happen for the ~ being, it is the case or will happen now, but only until something else becomes possible or happens.

For the ~ being, however, immunotherapy is still in its experimental stages...

PHRASE: PHR with cl

40.

If you do something from ~ to ~, you do it occasionally but not regularly.

Her daughters visited him from ~ to ~ when he was ill.

PHRASE: PHR with v, PHR with cl

41.

If you say that something is the case half the ~ you mean that it often is the case. (INFORMAL)

Half the ~, I don’t have the slightest idea what he’s talking about.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

42.

If you say that you have no ~ for a person or thing, you mean you do not like them or approve of them, and if you say that you have a lot of ~ for a person or thing, you mean you like them or approve of them very much.

When I think of what he’s done to my mother and me, I’ve just got no ~ for him...

PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n

43.

If you say that it is high ~ that something happened or was done, you are saying in an emphatic way that it should happen or be done now, and really should have happened or been done sooner.

It is high ~ the Government displayed a more humanitarian approach towards victims of the recession...

PHRASE: V inflects, PHR that, PHR to-inf emphasis

44.

If you are in ~ for a particular event, you are not too late for it.

I arrived just in ~ for my flight to London...

PHRASE: PHR after v, oft PHR for n, PHR to-inf

45.

If you say that something will happen in ~ or given ~, you mean that it will happen eventually, when a lot of ~ has passed.

He would sort out his own problems, in ~...

Tina believed that, given ~, her business would become profitable.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

46.

If you are playing, singing, or dancing in ~ with a piece of music, you are following the rhythm and speed of the music correctly. If you are out of ~ with it, you are not following the rhythm and speed of the music correctly.

Her body swayed in ~ with the music...

We were standing onstage playing completely out of ~.

PHRASE: PHR after v, oft PHR with n

47.

If you say that something will happen, for example, in a week ’s ~ or in two years ’ ~, you mean that it will happen a week from now or two years from now.

Presidential elections are due to be held in ten days’ ~...

PHRASE: PHR with cl

48.

If you arrive somewhere in good ~, you arrive early so that there is ~ to spare before a particular event.

If we’re out, we always make sure we’re home in good ~ for the programme.

PHRASE: PHR after v, oft PHR for n

49.

If you tell someone that something will happen in good ~ or all in good ~, you are telling them to be patient because it will happen eventually.

There will be many advanced exercises that you won’t be able to do at first. You will get to them in good ~...

PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR as reply

50.

If something happens in no ~ or in next to no ~, it happens almost immediately or very quickly.

He expects to be out of prison in next to no ~.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

51.

If you do something in your own ~, you do it at the speed that you choose, rather than allowing anyone to hurry you.

Now, in your own ~, tell me what happened.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

52.

If you do something such as work in your own ~ in British English, or on your own ~ in American English, you do it in your free ~ rather than, for example, at work or school.

If I choose to work on other projects in my own ~, then I say that is my business.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

53.

If you keep ~ when playing or singing music, you follow or play the beat, without going too fast or too slowly.

As he sang he kept ~ on a small drum.

PHRASE: V inflects

54.

When you talk about how well a watch or clock keeps ~, you are talking about how accurately it measures ~.

Some pulsars keep ~ better than the earth’s most accurate clocks.

PHRASE: V inflects

55.

If you make ~ for a particular activity or person, you arrange to have some free ~ so that you can do the activity or spend ~ with the person.

Before leaving the city, be sure to make ~ for a shopping trip...

PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR for n, PHR to-inf

56.

If you say that you made good ~ on a journey, you mean it did not take you very long compared to the length of ~ you expected it to take.

They had left early in the morning, on quiet roads, and made good ~.

PHRASE: V inflects

57.

If someone is making up for lost ~, they are doing something actively and with enthusiasm because they have not had the opportunity to do it before or when they were younger.

Five years older than the majority of officers of his same rank, he was determined to make up for lost ~.

PHRASE: V inflects

58.

If you are marking ~, you are doing something that is not particularly useful or interesting while you wait for something more important or interesting to happen.

He’s really just marking ~ until he’s old enough to leave.

PHRASE: V inflects

59.

If you say that something happens or is the case nine ~s out of ten or ninety-nine ~s out of a hundred, you mean that it happens on nearly every occasion or is almost always the case.

When they want something, nine ~s out of ten they get it...

PHRASE: PHR with cl

60.

If you say that someone or something is, for example, the best writer of all ~, or the most successful film of all ~, you mean that they are the best or most successful that there has ever been.

‘Monopoly’ is one of the best-selling games of all ~...

PHRASE: n PHR, usu PHR after adj-superl

61.

If you are on ~, you are not late.

Don’t worry, she’ll be on ~...

PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v

62.

If you say that it is only a matter of ~ or only a question of ~ before something happens, you mean that it cannot be avoided and will definitely happen at some future date.

It now seems only a matter of ~ before they resign...

PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft it v-link PHR before cl

63.

When you refer to our ~ or our ~s you are referring to the present period in the history of the world.

It would be wrong to say that the Church doesn’t enter the great moral debates of our ~.

PHRASE: usu of/in/for PHR

64.

If you do something to pass the ~ you do it because you have some ~ available and not because you really want to do it.

Without particular interest and just to pass the ~, I read a story...

PHRASE: V inflects

65.

If you play for ~, you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need ~ to think about what to do if it happens.

The president’s decision is being seen as an attempt to play for ~.

PHRASE: V inflects

66.

If you say that something will take ~, you mean that it will take a long ~.

Change will come, but it will take ~...

PHRASE: V inflects, oft it PHR to-inf

67.

If you take your ~ doing something, you do it quite slowly and do not hurry.

‘Take your ~,’ Cross told him. ‘I’m in no hurry.’

PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR -ing

68.

If a child can tell the ~, they are able to find out what the ~ is by looking at a clock or watch.

My four-year-old daughter cannot quite tell the ~.

PHRASE: V inflects

69.

If something happens ~ after ~, it happens in a similar way on many occasions.

Burns had escaped from jail ~ after ~...

= repeatedly

PHRASE: PHR with cl, PHR after v

70.

If you say that ~ flies, you mean that it seems to pass very quickly.

Time flies when you’re having fun.

PHRASE: V inflects

71.

If you have the ~ of your life, you enjoy yourself very much indeed.

We’re taking our little grandchild away with us. We’ll make sure he has the ~ of his life...

PHRASE: Ns inflect, PHR after v, v-link PHR

72.

If you say there is no ~ to lose or no ~ to be lost, you mean you must hurry as fast as you can to do something.

He rushed home, realising there was no ~ to lose.

PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v

73.

If you say that ~ will tell whether something is true or correct, you mean that it will not be known until some ~ in the future whether it is true or correct.

Only ~ will tell whether Broughton’s optimism is justified...

PHRASE: oft PHR whether/if

74.

If you waste no ~ in doing something, you take the opportunity to do it immediately or quickly.

Tom wasted no ~ in telling me why he had come.

PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR in -ing

75.

~ and again: see again

in the fullness of ~: see fullness