last minute
See also: last-minute
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
the last minute
- (idiomatic) An arbitrary (non-specific) point in time, too close to a deadline to reasonably begin a critical task.
- I like to do everything at the last minute. It does tend to make me late for things, though.
- 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- “Clown Without Pity,” as the segment is called, opens with Homer forgetting Bart’s birthday and jetting off at the last minute (or rather considerably after the last minute) to pick him up a present. Alas, Homer has the questionable judgment to go gift-shopping at House Of Evil, an establishment that bills itself as “Your one stop evil shop.” That should be a bit of a warning, as is the establishment’s name.
Derived terms
- at the last minute
- lastminute.com
- lastminutitis
Translations
non-specific point in time close to a deadline
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Adjective
last minute (comparative more last minute, superlative most last minute)
- (idiomatic) Very close to a deadline.
- 2009, Hank Stuever, Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present, page 211:
- “In ten years, this is the most last-minute holiday season that we have ever seen,” a Citigroup analyst, Deborah Weinswig, tells ABC News.
- 2020 August 15, Gavin Newsham, “How the Secret Service protects the president’s golf game”, in New York Post:
- “It can be exhilarating but it can be boring, too,” he said. “I preferred it when it was more last minute, when the adrenaline kicked in.”
- That last minute revision really paid off in the exam!
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Translations
very close to a deadline
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See also
- eleventh hour