"time is of the essence" meaning in English

See time is of the essence in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-time is of the essence.wav
Head templates: {{head|en|phrase|head=time is of the essence}} time is of the essence
  1. (set phrase) Time is an essential consideration (in regard to an action or response); haste is necessary. Related terms: timeliness, timely, time flies, tempus fugit Translations (haste is necessary): 時間是最重要的 /时间是最重要的 (shíjiān shì zuì zhòngyào de) (Chinese Mandarin), nopeus on olennaista (Finnish), o tempo é esencial (Galician), die Zeit drängt (German), liczy się czas (Polish), o tempo é essencial (Portuguese), o tempo é fundamental (Portuguese), o tempo é vital (Portuguese), timpul este esențial (Romanian), el tiempo es esencial (Spanish), el plazo es esencial (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-time_is_of_the_essence-en-phrase-WKSeyVWt Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Galician translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Romanian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 87 13 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 91 9 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 88 12 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 91 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 87 13 Disambiguation of Terms with Galician translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 88 12 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 85 15 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 84 16 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 79 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Romanian translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 90 10 Disambiguation of 'haste is necessary': 90 10
  2. (law, in a contract) Failure to complete the required performance by the date certain set forth will constitute an incurable breach.
    Sense id: en-time_is_of_the_essence-en-phrase-kP2ISbqo Categories (other): Law, English sentences Disambiguation of English sentences: 43 57 Topics: law
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      "roman": "shíjiān shì zuì zhòngyào de",
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      "word": "o tempo é esencial"
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      "word": "die Zeit drängt"
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      "sense": "haste is necessary",
      "word": "el tiempo es esencial"
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Download raw JSONL data for time is of the essence meaning in English (6.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (142890b and 1d3fdbf). 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.

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