- [countable] (symbol ″)(abbreviation sec.)a unit for measuring time. There are 60 seconds in one minute.
- in… seconds She can run 100 metres in just over 11 seconds.
- for… seconds For several seconds he did not reply.
- every… seconds The light flashes every five seconds.
- per second The water flows at about 1.5 metres per second.
- The end of the game is only a matter of seconds away.
- Every few seconds, she would turn towards the door.
- The scene lasts six seconds.
- He scored with less than 60 seconds on the clock (= less than 60 seconds after the game started).
Extra ExamplesTopics Timea1- I was counting the seconds until the bell.
- If he'd reacted a fraction of a second later, he would surely have died.
- It took a couple of seconds to realize what was going on.
- She had wasted a few precious seconds.
- She wanted to spend every second with him.
- The room seemed to grow hotter with each passing second.
- The seconds ticked by.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- brief
- fleeting
- mere
- …
- take
- have
- hang on
- …
- go by
- pass
- tick by
- …
- hand
- for a second
- in a second
- in seconds
- …
- a couple of seconds
- a fraction of a second
- a matter of seconds
- …
- [countable] (also informal sec)a very short time synonym moment
- in a second I'll be with you in a second.
- in/within seconds They had finished within seconds.
- He scored again in the dying seconds (= the last few seconds) of the game.
- He got out with seconds to spare.
- Wait a second—this email's been sent to me by mistake.
- This will only take a second.
- I hesitated for a second before speaking.
- For a second I thought you were my mother.
- For a heart-stopping second he thought he had lost his keys.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- brief
- fleeting
- mere
- …
- take
- have
- hang on
- …
- go by
- pass
- tick by
- …
- hand
- for a second
- in a second
- in seconds
- …
- a couple of seconds
- a fraction of a second
- a matter of seconds
- …
- [countable] (symbol ″)a unit for measuring angles. There are 60 seconds in one minute.
- 1° 6′ 10″ (= one degree, six minutes and ten seconds)
- seconds[plural] (informal) a second amount of the same food that you have just eaten
- Seconds, anybody?
- [countable, usually plural] an item that is sold at a lower price than usual because it is not perfect
- (also second gear)[uncountable] one of six or seven positions of the gears in a vehicle
- to change down from third to second
- in second When it's icy, move off in second.
- [countable] a level of university degree at British universities. An upper second is a good degree and a lower second is average.
- He got a good second in history.
- [countable] a person whose role is to help and support somebody else, for example in a boxing match or in a formal duel in the past
Word Originnoun senses 1 to 3 late Middle English: from medieval Latin secunda (minuta) ‘second (minute)’, feminine (used as a noun) of secundus, referring to the “second” operation of dividing an hour by sixty. noun senses 4 to 8 Middle English: via Old French from Latin secundus ‘following, second’, from the base of sequi ‘follow’. The verb dates from the late 16th cent.
Idioms
See second in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee second in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishjust a minute/moment/second
- (informal) used to ask somebody to wait for a short time
- ‘Is Mr Burns available?’ ‘Just a second, please—I'll check.’
wait a minute/moment/second
- to wait for a short time
- Can you wait a second while I make a call?
- Hey! Wait a minute! I'll come with you!
- used when you have just noticed or remembered something, or had a sudden idea
- Wait a minute—this isn't the right key.
Check pronunciation:
second1