time_1 noun – Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

  • [countable]

    an occasion when you do something or when something happens

    • Every time

      I hear that song I feel happy.

    • It doesn’t matter if you don’t win every time

      (= every time you play)

      .

    • Next time

      you’re here let’s have lunch together.

    • He failed his driving test three times.

    • He’s determined to pass

      this time

      .

    • When was the

      last time

      you saw her?

    • I see her two or three

      times a week

      .

    • How many times

      (= how often)

      do I have to tell you not to do that?

    • (especially North American English)

      I remember

      one time

      (= once)

      we had to abandon our car in the snow.

    • (formal)

      At no time did

      I give my consent to the plan.

    To talk about the first or the last time you do something, use

    the first/last time (that) I…

    :

    This is the first time (that) I’ve been to London.

    This is the first time for me to go to London.

    That was the last time (that) I saw her.

    Extra Examples

    • For the first time in history, more than half of us now live in cities.

    • I can remember the first time I met her.

    • I told her not to do it for the umpteenth time.

    • I’ve told you countless times.

    • The chairlift can take four people at a time.

    • three times out of ten

    • There were times—sometimes whole weeks—when I thought it wasn’t worth trying to complete the project.

    Oxford Collocations Dictionary

    adjective

    • that
    • this
    • final

    … of times

    • couple
    • number

    verb + time

    • remember
    • bide

    time + verb

    • come
    • be ripe

    preposition

    • at a/​the time
    • by the time
    • for the… time

    phrases

    • at the present time
    • for the time being
    • a number of times

    See full entry