wait a minute
wait a minute interjection: used to indicate a new insight or dawning understanding.
Interjection
- Used to indicate a new insight or dawning understanding.
- HAL: Go ahead. JOHN: Wait a minute. That tone of voice… you don’t like it!2004 March, Hal Helms, “Adventures in Encapsulation; Part 2: Talking OO: Learning to think in ‘objects’”, in Robert Diamond, editor, ColdFusion Developer’s Journal, volume 6, number 3, Montvale...
- BEN: (Suddenly remembers.) Wait a minute, Huckleberry Finn don't have no family.2005, Susan Pargman, Huck Finn's High-Tailin' Adventures, page 4
- Used to indicate disagreement or doubt.
- “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait ... a ... minute,” said Fred. “I don't mind a little cologne, but I am not going to put on eye shadow.2004, Jon Scieszka, Tut, Tut #6, →ISBN
- “Wait a minute. I'm not picking her apart. I'm just trying to be helpful. She needs a little guidance, that's all.”2012, Marilyn King, Sisters: And Other Fast Fiction, →ISBN
Verb
wait a minute (third-person singular simple present waits a minute, present participle waiting a minute, simple past and past participle waited a minute)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wait, minute.
- They would not think twice about asking you to wait a minute while they take another picture, or ask another question of the guide.2005, Lawrence A. Hoffman, Israel--a Spiritual Travel Guide, →ISBN
- I wait a minute—then I get an idea.2012, Peter Cheyney, Never a Dull Moment, →ISBN
wait a minute meaning in Malayalam
wait a minute in Malayalam
- be patient, wait a moment, wait a second
- ഒന്നു നിൽക്കൂ, അല്പമൊന്നുനിൽക്കൂ, അക്ഷമനാകാതിരിക്കൂ, ഒരുനിമിഷം നിൽക്കൂ, നിൽക്കൂ, ഒരുനിമിഷം
Examples of wait a minute in a sentence
- Reader E questioned the plausibility of laundry hanging on a clothesline at night, and Reader C's forward momentum was stalled as he commented, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!2007, Kathleen A. Froriep, The Conscious Thought Processes of College English Faculty when Reading Wordless Books: A Verbal Protocol Study...
- "Wait a minute," you exclaim confidently.2010, David Stevens, Wait-A-Minute Bridge, →ISBN, page 96:
- “Wait a minute, I don't know if I want to do this or not.2013, Robert Vaughan, When Hell Came to Texas, →ISBN:
- He asked my mom, “Ellen are you ready yet?” She said, “Wait a minute and I will be.”2012, Myrna Temte, Wyoming Wildcat, →ISBN:
Forms of wait a minute
| Interjection | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | waitaminute |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | waits a minute |
| present participle | waiting a minute |
| past participle | waited a minute |
| past | waited a minute |
Questions about wait a minute
- What does wait a minute mean?
- Wait a minute means used to indicate a new insight or dawning understanding.
- What is wait a minute in Malayalam?
- Wait a minute in Malayalam is ഒന്നു നിൽക്കൂ, അല്പമൊന്നുനിൽക്കൂ, അക്ഷമനാകാതിരിക്കൂ. See Wait a minute meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use wait a minute in a sentence?
- Reader E questioned the plausibility of laundry hanging on a clothesline at night, and Reader C's forward momentum was stalled as he commented, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!
- What part of speech is wait a minute?
- Wait a minute can be an interjection or a verb.
Words near wait a minute in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wait a minute (page history and authors); wait a minute (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “wait a minute.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wait_a_minute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.