Word: Hour

Pronunciation

/ˈaʊər/

Definitions

• Noun: A unit of time equal to 60 minutes, or 1/24th of a day. It’s used to measure the duration of events or the passage of time. For instance, “The meeting lasted for two hours.”

Example Sentences

• “She spends an hour each day practicing the piano.”
• “We’ll have to wait for several hours before the next train arrives.”
• “It takes about an hour to drive from here to the airport.”

Phrases

• “After hours” refers to a time outside regular business or operating hours.
• “At the eleventh hour” means something happening just before a deadline or very late in a process.
• “An hourglass” is a device that measures the passage of time using sand flowing through a narrow opening for approximately one hour.

Idioms & Collocations

• “In an hour’s time” means after sixty minutes have passed.
• “Hour by hour” suggests tracking or observing something closely over a series of short intervals.
• “Hourly rate” refers to payment based on each hour worked.

Synonyms

-六十分钟 -时段 -钟点 -时间单位 -一小时 (in Chinese)

In English, synonyms include:

• Period
• Time period
• Session
• Interval
• Duration

Note: While there isn’t a verb form or other parts of speech for “hour,” it can be part of compound words functioning as verbs or adjectives, e.g., “to hourly hire someone” (meaning to employ someone for an hourly wage), or “hour-long meeting” (an adjective describing a meeting that lasts for one hour).