(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You can refer to a very short period of time, for example a few seconds, as a ~ or ~s.
In a ~ he was gone...
She stared at him a ~, then turned away...
Stop for one ~ and think about it!...
In ~s, I was asleep once more.
= minute, second
N-COUNT
2.
A particular ~ is the point in time at which something happens.
At this ~ a car stopped at the house...
Many people still remember the ~ when they heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated.
N-COUNT: with supp
3.
If you say that something will or may happen at any ~ or any ~ now, you are emphasizing that it is likely to happen very soon.
They ran the risk of being shot at any ~...
He’ll be here to see you any ~ now.
PHRASE emphasis
4.
You use expressions such as at the ~, at this ~, and at the present ~ to indicate that a particular situation exists at the time when you are speaking.
At the ~, no one is talking to me...
This is being planned at the present ~...
= now, currently
PHRASE
5.
If you say that you do not believe for a ~ or for one ~ that something is true, you are emphasizing that you do not believe that it could possibly be true.
I don’t for a ~ think there’ll be a divorce.
= for a minute
PHRASE: with brd-neg, PHR with v emphasis
6.
You use for the ~ to indicate that something is true now, even if it will not be true in the future.
For the ~, however, the government is happy to live with it.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
7.
If you say that someone or something has their ~s, you are indicating that there are times when they are successful or interesting, but that this does not happen very often.
The film has its ~s...
PHRASE: V inflects
8.
If someone does something at the last ~, they do it at the latest time possible.
They changed their minds at the last ~ and refused to go.
PHRASE: prep PHR
9.
You use the expression the next ~, or expressions such as ‘one ~ he was there, the next he was gone’, to emphasize that something happens suddenly, especially when it is very different from what was happening before.
The next ~ there was an almighty crash...
He is unpredictable, weeping one ~, laughing the next.
PHRASE emphasis
10.
You use of the ~ to describe someone or something that is or was especially popular at a particular time, especially when you want to suggest that their popularity is unlikely to last long or did not last long.
He’s the man of the ~, isn’t he?
PHRASE: n PHR
11.
If you say that something happens the ~ something else happens, you are emphasizing that it happens immediately after the other thing.
The ~ I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.
PHRASE: PHR that emphasis
12.
spur of the ~: see spur