Sample Sentences for
minute
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

minute as in:  minute size

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Don't eat a lot of poppy seeds for a few days before a drug test. They have a minute amount of a chemical that can cause a false positive when testing for heroin use.
minute = tiny
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Even a minute amount of lead can be harmful to children.
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    It was the kind of box wedding rings came in, purple velvet with a minute catch.  (source)
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    The minute owl was still hooting excitedly.  (source)
    minute = very small
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
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    Tiny fringes of hair, minute claws, jointed legs.  (source)
    minute = small
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    Whenever Pearl saw anything to excite her ever active and wandering curiosity, she flew thitherward, and, as we might say, seized upon that man or thing as her own property, so far as she desired it, but without yielding the minutest degree of control over her motions in requital.  (source)
    minutest = slightest
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    The forest minutely vibrated.  (source)
    minutely = very slightly
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    Every day a messenger brought him a despatch from Sanballat, in charge of the big commerce behind; and every day a despatch left him for Sanballat with directions of such minuteness of detail as to exclude all judgment save his own, and all chances except those the Almighty has refused to submit to the most mindful of men.  (source)
    minuteness = smallness
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
  • •
    I keep staring, trying to remember every minute detail of this moment, the way she grips the wooden spoon in her hand, the ivory look to her skin with the light coming in the windows behind her, the tenderness in her eyes.  (source)
    minute = small
  • •
    Mary said afterwards that he hummed and ha'd for an unconscionable time while he examined the baby in minutest detail.  (source)
    minutest = smallest
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    The Librarian shakes his head minutely.  (source)
    minutely = slightly
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    As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large.  (source)
    minuteness = smallness
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    As she spoke Lieutenant Awn was asking me questions, with minute twitches of her fingers.  (source)
    minute = small
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    "There shall not be one a minute longer than you please," said Dantes, who had followed the working of his thoughts as accurately as though his brain were enclosed in crystal so clear as to display its minutest operations.  (source)
    minutest = smallest
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minute as in:  minute description

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    She thrives at sifting through that kind of minute detail.
    minute = including even small considerations
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    [T]his case ... requires no minute sifting of complicated facts,  (source)
    minute = detailed
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    They shared their histories, from first memories onward, recounted in minute detail.  (source)
    minute = careful
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
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    Each had knotted, carefully combed tassels, fleur-de-lis borders, ornate medallion designs, and minute scalloping amid a motif of connected eight-spoked wheels, all in rust and fire orange.  (source)
    minute = detailed
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    Though each face showed no awareness of the other, they were in fact minutely sensitive to each other.  (source)
    minutely = in detail
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    The scientist of today is either a mixture of psychologist and inquisitor, studying with real ordinary minuteness the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, and tones of voice, and testing the truth-producing effects of drugs, shock therapy, hypnosis, and physical torture; or he is chemist, physicist, or biologist concerned only with such branches of his special subject as are relevant to the taking of life.  (source)
    minuteness = attention to detail
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
  • •
    My uncle examined all his pockets and his travelling bag with the minutest care.  (source)
    minutest = most careful
  • •
    But it's very difficult to work in machine language because you go crazy after a while, working at such a minute level.  (source)
    minute = detailed
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    It was amazing how minutely I knew Rose, possibly as a result of nursing her after her surgery.  (source)
    minutely = in a detailed manner
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    All these facts she gave with extraordinary minuteness.  (source)
    minuteness = attention to detail
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    Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances which produced it is set in view; the minutest description of my odious and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own horrors and rendered mine indelible.  (source)
    minutest = most detailed
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    But to believe that dissecting the tragic events of 1996 in minute detail will actually reduce the future death rate in any meaningful way is wishful thinking.  (source)
    minute = careful
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    They were wrecked-looking and wet to the touch but when I switched on the desk lamp and examined them minutely—specs on, with my Hobie-trained eye, nose inches from the cloth—no blood to be seen.  (source)
    minutely = carefully
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minutes as in:  keep the minutes

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    I always review the minutes to make sure there are no errors.
    minutes = written record of what happened at a meeting
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    "May I take the minutes?" asked a zombie.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes (of a meeting)
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    But everybody just nods to approve the minutes.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes
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    The minutes of that meeting have disappeared from the files—mysteriously—but you can ask Walter Hartridge about it.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes (of a meeting)
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    Your father plans to retain one old order scribe such as myself to record minutes, take letters, and accompany him to court.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes (from a meeting)
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    But there were other days when they settled down to their work almost eagerly, making a tremendous show of entering up their minutes and drafting long memoranda which were never finished — when the argument as to what they were supposedly arguing about grew extraordinarily involved and abstruse, with subtle haggling over definitions, enormous digressions, quarrels threats, even, to appeal to higher authority.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes
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    "Nothing about it in the correspondence," said the governor. Nothing in the minutes. We have not been notified of any such thing.  (source)
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    But I shouldn't have announced it like the minutes of the next meeting.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes (from a meeting)
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    Now we need someone else to take the minutes.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes
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    In your satchel when I was hunting for the minutes?  (source)
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    Not going to detail what new Congress did and said that session and later; minutes are available.  (source)
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    Did you take minutes, Brother Chairman? Have you recorded your wise disputations?  (source)
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    It proved to be an equally dull collection of minutes of partisan meetings.  (source)
    minutes = formal notes (from a meeting)
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meaning too common or too rare to warrant focus

Show 3 with this contextual meaning
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    As they pulled into the driveway of the house, Roy said, "This'll only take a minute."  (source)
    minute = a short time (about 60 seconds)
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    Before moving, Vern stared for a long minute at Chase, as though he had overlooked something.  (source)
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    One minute, mind you, and then off forever.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 3 word variations
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    Then, minutes later, the coach rocked to a sudden halt.  (source)
    minutes = 60-second time periods
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    I really must sit down for a minute and collect my wits, and have a drink.  (source)
    minute = short time (about 60 seconds)
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    Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.  (source)
    minutely = frequently
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    Two minutes from the time Curly went down, the last of her assailants were clubbed off.  (source)
    minutes = 60-second time periods
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    Just a minute, be patient for a moment ….  (source)
    minute = a short time (about 60 seconds)
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    A few minutes later they pulled out from the bank and down the river.  (source)
    minutes = 60-second time periods
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    One minute an injured boy is asleep in this bed, and the next minute he's vanished?  (source)
    minute = a short time (about 60 seconds)
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    They knew that the time a man could cling to a slippery rock in the face of that driving current was a matter of minutes, and they ran as fast as they could up the bank to a point far above where Thornton was hanging on.  (source)
    minutes = 60-second time periods
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    After a minute of reading, he continued.  (source)
    minute = a short time (about 60 seconds)
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    The Sounding of the Call When Buck earned sixteen hundred dollars in five minutes for John Thornton, he made it possible for his master to pay off certain debts and to journey with his partners into the East after a fabled lost mine, the history of which was as old as the history of the country.  (source)
    minutes = 60-second time periods
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