"high time" meaning in English

See high time in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-high time.ogg Forms: high times [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} high time (countable and uncountable, plural high times)
  1. (uncountable, idiomatic) A point in time at which something is considered to be utterly due or even overdue to occur; well past time Tags: idiomatic, uncountable Categories (topical): Time Synonyms (point in time at which something is utterly due): about time Related terms: high noon, last minute Translations: hoog tijd [feminine] (Dutch), korkea aika (Finnish), il est grand temps (French), il est plus que temps (French), höchste Zeit [feminine] (German), ideje (Hungarian), legfőbb ideje (Hungarian), mithid [feminine] (Irish), najwyższy czas [masculine] (Polish), najwyższa pora [feminine] (Polish), hen bryd (Welsh)
    Sense id: en-high_time-en-noun-G2MUL7ZM Disambiguation of Time: 55 45 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English positive polarity items, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Irish translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Welsh translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 41 Disambiguation of English positive polarity items: 60 40 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 76 24 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 61 39 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 58 42 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 65 35 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 69 31 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 67 33 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 71 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Irish translations: 69 31 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Welsh translations: 65 35 Disambiguation of 'point in time at which something is utterly due': 92 8
  2. (countable, idiomatic) A very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time. Tags: countable, idiomatic Categories (topical): Time Synonyms (very enjoyable or exciting period of time): high old time, hoot Translations (very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time): herrliche Zeit [feminine] (German), großes Vergnügen [neuter] (German), Heidenspaß [masculine] (German)
    Sense id: en-high_time-en-noun-IqppM-qB Disambiguation of Time: 55 45 Disambiguation of 'very enjoyable or exciting period of time': 27 73 Disambiguation of 'very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time': 22 78

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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    {
      "form": "high times",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "name": "Time",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1729, John Norman, God's Foreknowledge of contingent Events vindicated, page 27:",
          "text": "\"But it is high time for me to have done with the argument, as it is to be judged of according to scripture evidence.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1820, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 21, in The Abbot:",
          "text": "\"I will await no longer,\" said Lindesay; \"it is high time the business were done.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1851, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby Dick:",
          "text": "I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 22, in Right Ho, Jeeves:",
          "text": "\"But I haven't ridden for years.\"\n\"Then it's high time you began again.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 May 9, Hassan Rohani, “Iran's Nuclear Program: The Way Out”, in Time:",
          "text": "It is high time to cease sensationalism and war mongering, pause and think twice about where we are heading.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A point in time at which something is considered to be utterly due or even overdue to occur; well past time"
      ],
      "id": "en-high_time-en-noun-G2MUL7ZM",
      "links": [
        [
          "utterly",
          "utterly"
        ],
        [
          "due",
          "due"
        ],
        [
          "overdue",
          "overdue"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, idiomatic) A point in time at which something is considered to be utterly due or even overdue to occur; well past time"
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "word": "high noon"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "word": "last minute"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "92 8",
          "sense": "point in time at which something is utterly due",
          "word": "about time"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "hoog tijd"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "word": "korkea aika"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "word": "il est grand temps"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "word": "il est plus que temps"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "höchste Zeit"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "word": "ideje"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "word": "legfőbb ideje"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "mithid"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "najwyższy czas"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "najwyższa pora"
        },
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          "_dis1": "58 42",
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "word": "hen bryd"
        }
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          "name": "Time",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1912, L. Frank Baum, chapter 25, in Sky Island:",
          "text": "[T]here's going to be a high time in the Blue City tonight. We'll have music and dancing and eating.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1916, Jack London, “When Alice Told Her Soul”, in On the Makaloa Mat: Island Tales:",
          "text": "For Alice had lived, from early in her girlhood, a life of flowers, and song, and wine, and dance. . . . And her tight tongue had served her well . . . . [N]one ever heard her gossip of the times of Kalakaua's boathouse, nor of the high times of officers of visiting warships.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 Dec. 11, Richard Corliss, \"Cinema: Better Than Tabloid Tattle\" (film review of Proof of Life), Time",
          "text": "[T]he film intelligently deploys familiar thriller elements: chases; shoot-outs; high-level duplicity; terse, sassy dialogue; and a cast having a high time playing preening villains and wily good guys."
        }
      ],
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      ],
      "id": "en-high_time-en-noun-IqppM-qB",
      "links": [
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          "enjoyable"
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          "exciting"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable, idiomatic) A very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting period of time",
          "word": "high old time"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting period of time",
          "word": "hoot"
        }
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      "tags": [
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        "idiomatic"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "22 78",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "herrliche Zeit"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "22 78",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "großes Vergnügen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "22 78",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Heidenspaß"
        }
      ]
    }
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{
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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    "Terms with Irish translations",
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      "word": "high noon"
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      "word": "last minute"
    }
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  "senses": [
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1729, John Norman, God's Foreknowledge of contingent Events vindicated, page 27:",
          "text": "\"But it is high time for me to have done with the argument, as it is to be judged of according to scripture evidence.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1820, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 21, in The Abbot:",
          "text": "\"I will await no longer,\" said Lindesay; \"it is high time the business were done.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1851, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby Dick:",
          "text": "I thought it was high time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 22, in Right Ho, Jeeves:",
          "text": "\"But I haven't ridden for years.\"\n\"Then it's high time you began again.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 May 9, Hassan Rohani, “Iran's Nuclear Program: The Way Out”, in Time:",
          "text": "It is high time to cease sensationalism and war mongering, pause and think twice about where we are heading.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A point in time at which something is considered to be utterly due or even overdue to occur; well past time"
      ],
      "links": [
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        [
          "due",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, idiomatic) A point in time at which something is considered to be utterly due or even overdue to occur; well past time"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
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          "ref": "1912, L. Frank Baum, chapter 25, in Sky Island:",
          "text": "[T]here's going to be a high time in the Blue City tonight. We'll have music and dancing and eating.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1916, Jack London, “When Alice Told Her Soul”, in On the Makaloa Mat: Island Tales:",
          "text": "For Alice had lived, from early in her girlhood, a life of flowers, and song, and wine, and dance. . . . And her tight tongue had served her well . . . . [N]one ever heard her gossip of the times of Kalakaua's boathouse, nor of the high times of officers of visiting warships.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 Dec. 11, Richard Corliss, \"Cinema: Better Than Tabloid Tattle\" (film review of Proof of Life), Time",
          "text": "[T]he film intelligently deploys familiar thriller elements: chases; shoot-outs; high-level duplicity; terse, sassy dialogue; and a cast having a high time playing preening villains and wily good guys."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "enjoyable",
          "enjoyable"
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        [
          "exciting",
          "exciting"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable, idiomatic) A very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-high time.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7e/En-au-high_time.ogg/En-au-high_time.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/En-au-high_time.ogg"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "point in time at which something is utterly due",
      "word": "about time"
    },
    {
      "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting period of time",
      "word": "high old time"
    },
    {
      "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting period of time",
      "word": "hoot"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "hoog tijd"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "word": "korkea aika"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "word": "il est grand temps"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "word": "il est plus que temps"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "höchste Zeit"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "word": "ideje"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "word": "legfőbb ideje"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "mithid"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "najwyższy czas"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "najwyższa pora"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "word": "hen bryd"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "herrliche Zeit"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "großes Vergnügen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "very enjoyable or exciting experience or period of time",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Heidenspaß"
    }
  ],
  "word": "high time"
}

Download raw JSONL data for high time meaning in English (5.4kB)

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  "msg": "UNIMPLEMENTED parse_translation_template: trans-top-see {1: 'point in time at which something is utterly due', 2: 'about time'}",
  "path": [
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    "trans-top-see"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "high time",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.