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Glite Dictionary
a hot minute

a hot minute

8.7
A short time, often said jokingly to mean a long time
  • idiom
  • Slang
translation icon : un buen rato
  • It feels like it's been a hot minute since we had a family gathering.

It's been, it's been a hot minute since I've got to appear on the Now Famous.

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Examples

  • I know it's been a hot minute since I've been on here answering your thread topics, but I've had grad school midterms (sucking the brain out of my ears).

    Blog text (6)

  • I haven't seen you in a hot minute; let's catch up over coffee.

  • It's just taking a hot minute to get this color built up.

  • We can like waiting in line for a hot minute, but just look at this.

  • We're waiting in line for a hot minute, but just look at this.

  • I know it's been a hot minute since I have tried clothing from Internet brands, but your girl is back.

  • OK so hi, it has been a hot minute since I filmed a video and that is because I am pregnant.

  • The backup would be here in a hot minute, maybe less.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Hello everybody, it has been a hot minute since I uploaded a vlog, mainly due to the fact that I got ill.

  • I've been here for a hot minute trying to get these lashes thicker.

Synonyms

second
vsa hot minute
  • Informal
543 1.0

A very short time

is informal and can mean short time or, ironically, a long delay
wink
vsa hot minute
  • Informal
22 4.9

A very short time like a moment

can mean a brief time or ironically an unexpectedly long while
jiffy
vsa hot minute
  • Informal
17 7.2

A very short time, just a moment

can also imply an ironically long or unpredictable duration
New York minute
vsa hot minute
  • Informal
5 7.2

A very short moment when something happens

is sometimes used more loosely to mean a short or ironically long time
Microsoft minute
vsa hot minute
  • Informal
9.4

A short expected wait that often takes much longer

is informal and can mean a short time or an ironically long delay

Antonyms

a long time
∞ 1.0

A period that lasts much longer than usual

forever
12 1.4

A very long time with no end

How Long

age
332 7.7
a long time
∞ 1.0
a hot minute
  • Slang
8.7
awhile
53 2.9
moment
∞ 1.0
second
  • Informal
543 1.0

Surface Forms

a hot minute singular
a hot minutes plural

Morphology

a + hot + minute

The constituent 'minute' clearly signals a time interval and 'hot' can function as an intensifier, so a learner who knows both words could plausibly infer a meaning related to a (very) short time. However, the phrase is informal, idiomatic, and often used ironically to mean an unexpectedly long time; this pragmatic/figurative use is not fully predictable from the parts, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The expression a hot minute puts hot before minute to make the time feel stronger; one popular story says it comes from slang where 'hot' means 'very' or 'strong'. So the image is of a very quick, strong moment, and that's why people use it to mean 'a short time', though sometimes it's used jokingly to mean 'a long time'.