second

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noun very short moment of time

ADJECTIVE

▪ brief, fleeting, mere (esp. AmE), split

▪

I only saw the man for a split second as he ran past.

▪

I swam to the other shore in mere seconds.

▪ single

▪ precious

▪

She had wasted a few precious seconds.

▪ closing, dying (BrE)

▪

His goal in the dying seconds of the game secured Rangers a 3–2 victory.

VERB + SECOND

▪ take

▪

This will only take a second.

▪ have

▪

Do you have a second, Miss White?

▪ hang on, hold on, wait

▪

Wait a second—this letter's been sent to me by mistake.

▪ spend

▪

She wanted to spend every second with him.

SECOND + VERB

▪ go by, pass, tick by

▪

The seconds ticked by.

SECOND + NOUN

▪ hand

PREPOSITION

▪ for a second

▪

For a second I thought you were my mother.

▪

I hesitated for a second before speaking.

▪ in a second

▪

I'll be with you in a second.

▪ in seconds, within seconds

▪

Within seconds he had disappeared from view.

PHRASES

▪ a couple of seconds

▪

It took a couple of seconds to realize what was going on.

▪ a fraction of a second

▪

If he'd reacted a fraction of a second later, he would surely have died.

▪ a matter of seconds

▪

The end of the game is only a matter of seconds away.

▪ count the seconds

▪

I was counting the seconds until the bell.

▪ in the final seconds

▪

The game was lost in the final seconds.

▪ (only) seconds left

▪

We only have a few seconds left.

▪

We were three points behind with only seconds left in the game.

▪ with each passing second, with every passing second

▪

The room seemed to grow hotter with each passing second.

{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}

verb

Second is used with these nouns as the object: ↑motion