wait/just a minute

idiom

informal

1

—used to tell someone to wait or to stop for a brief time

"Aren't you finished yet?" "Just a minute. I'm almost done."

Wait a minute—I didn't hear you. Could you repeat what you said?

Wait just a minute, young man. Where do you think you're going?

2

—used to express surprise or disbelief

Hey, wait a minute! That's not what you said yesterday!

Examples of wait/just a minute in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Make sure to wait a minute or so for the cream to absorb into the skin, especially right before bedtime. —Jessie Quinn, People.com, 2 Oct. 2024

Do a trial run by watering for a count of ten, and then wait a minute before checking how deeply the water penetrated with your finger. —Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Sep. 2024

In the end, the kiss was cut down to just a minute and a half — still long, but nowhere close to a record. —Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Sep. 2024

Except, wait a minute, who was that small, stocky man bouncing out of the pack and suddenly leading cheers? —Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024