short on time
11
3.3
- idiom
:
corto de tiempo
- As my assistant mentioned earlier, I am short on time this morning.
- running short on time
- very short on time
- little short on time
So Henry, before we get, we're making short on time here.
- So Henry, before we get, we're making short on time here.
Examples
-
We're running short on time.
-
Well, um, I'm actually short on time because I have a parent-teacher conference.
-
I love this energy, but we are very short on time.
-
We're a little short on time here.
-
We are short on time.
-
And yes, we are short on time.
Fiction book (2001) -
I'd love to sit and discuss this with you, but I'm short on time.
-
One school librarian told us, "We are all short on time."
Academic text (2014) -
We aren't helpless, but we are short on time.
Fiction book (1998) -
We're running short on time to finish this project before the deadline.
Synonyms
10
4.2
When you have very little time you need to hurry
A person who cannot manage time well and often finishes tasks late
Antonyms
How Much Time
179
1.2
11
3.3
- Informal
10
4.2
136
2.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'having little time' is directly and predictably derived from the constituents: 'short' (insufficient) + 'on' (prepositional relation) + 'time' (available span). This adjective + prepositional-noun pattern is common in English (and mirrored in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the component words will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The expression short on time comes from the idea of being short—not having enough—of something. When you imagine being short on time, picture only a few hours left on the clock, and so it means 'not enough time' to do something.