Word
hour
US/ˈaʊɝ/
UK/ˈaʊə/
Definitions
01sixty minutes
n. a period of time that lasts sixty minutes.
n. a unit of time equal to one twenty-fourth of a day, consisting of sixty minutes.
“The flight to Paris takes about one hour from London.”
“The researchers monitored the chemical reaction for exactly one hour to ensure the data remained consistent across all test groups.”
Pitfall
I will see you in a hour.
I will see you in an hour.
Even though 'hour' starts with the consonant 'h', the 'h' is silent. Because it sounds like it starts with a vowel, you must use 'an'.
Synonyms
02time of day
n. a specific point in time, often used when telling the time.
n. a specific point in time or a particular time of day.
“At this hour of the night, most of the shops are closed.”
“The city is remarkably quiet at this early hour, before the morning commuters begin to fill the streets.”
03working time
n. the time you spend at your job or the times when a business is open.
n. the fixed or contractual periods of time dedicated to labor or business operations.
“My father works long hours at the hospital during the week.”
“The company recently revised its opening hours to accommodate customers who prefer to shop after finishing their own work day.”
Usage
Usually used in the plural form 'hours'.
04military time
n. a way of telling time using twenty-four hours, often used by the police or army.
n. a system of timekeeping based on a twenty-four-hour clock, typically used in military or technical contexts.
“The meeting is scheduled for fourteen-hundred hours.”
“The extraction team was ordered to reach the coordinates by zero-six-hundred hours to avoid detection by enemy patrols.”
Technical
Usage
Usually follows a four-digit number and is pronounced as 'hours'.
Synonyms
05a distance
n. the distance you can travel in sixty minutes.
n. a measure of distance expressed by the time required to travel it at a standard speed.
“The nearest big city is about two hours away by car.”
“Living three hours from the coast makes spontaneous beach trips difficult during the busy summer season.”
American English
06a significant moment
n. a very important time or a special moment in someone's life.
n. a significant or critical point in time, often associated with a particular event or person.
“This was her finest hour, when she finally won the gold medal.”
“In the nation's darkest hour, the leader gave a speech that restored hope to millions of citizens.”
Literary
Etymology
From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English ġēar (“year”). Doublet of hora and year. Compare horary. Partly displaced native Old English tīd (“time, hour”), whence Modern English tide.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Word family
Related words
Idioms
amateur hour — A situation or activity in which the participants show a lack of skill, sound judgment, or professionalism.
finest hour — A point in time or a relatively brief period of time when an especially distinguished, admirable, or effective set of actions is performed.
long hour — Any of the late hours of the day, especially those nearing midnight, or the hours after sunset.
rush hour — The times of the day when traffic jams are commonplace, due mainly to people commuting to or from work.
top of the hour — The time at (or very close to) the start of the next hour of time.
woman of the hour — A woman who has recently caught the attention of, or is being admired or honoured by, a large number of people.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/hour