How to Use half a minute/second in a Sentence

half a minute/second

idiom
  • The group then went on to play around half a minute of the norteño track.
    Jessica Roiz, Billboard, 21 May 2024
  • And of course, GPT-3 wrote its version of the essay in half a second.
    New York Times, 12 Apr. 2022
  • Young saw one performer reel off the names of all 50 states in under half a minute.
    Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 25 July 2022
  • In just half a minute, more than three dozen gunshots echoed through the crowded streets.
    Mark Berman and Todd C. Frankel, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Mar. 2023
  • With Utah up by one and about half a minute to go, Jared drove the lane, drew the defense, and kicked it back to Johnny.
    Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 July 2022
  • All the helicopter had to do was take off, hover for about half a minute, and then land.
    Mike Wehner, BGR, 21 Apr. 2021
  • The Wings went on a power play half a minute after that goal, and gave up a shorthanded chance to Roslovic.
    Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 15 Jan. 2023
  • In The Bear, Keller expertly scrapes, tugs, and extracts the chicken's wishbone in about a half a minute.
    Sam Stone, Bon Appétit, 28 June 2024
  • With this technique, small birds pass out within seconds and die in about half a minute.
    Federico Rios, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2021
  • Neely is mostly still, but half a minute later tries to struggle out of the headlock.
    Jake Offenhartz and Bobby Caina Calvan, Anchorage Daily News, 4 May 2023
  • And our system is designed to have latency of less than half a second.
    IEEE Spectrum, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Yet, the sprawling warehouse in the film’s final shot had to command the screen for nearly half a minute and took the artist Michael Pangrazio three months to complete.
    New York Times, 11 June 2021
  • The Bulls appeared to have that game clinched with half a second left in overtime after DeRozan was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws.
    Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 22 Dec. 2022
  • With the Whalers nursing a five-point lead and in possession of the ball with less than half a minute left on the clock, Wolgemuth didn’t want her scorching-hot night to stop.
    Josh Reed, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Mar. 2022
  • Other codas may last only one-third of a second or half a second.
    Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 7 May 2024
  • Last meet of the season, a result decided by half a second, Oblad sees the parallels.
    Shane Hoffmann, oregonlive, 29 Oct. 2022
  • That’s almost half a second quicker than the latest 2024 Mustang Dark Horse.
    Howard Walker, Robb Report, 19 Sep. 2023
  • He’s spent years trying to get here, qualifying for the 2020 race, which was cancelled, then missed the cutoff by half a second last year.
    John Hilliard, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Apr. 2023
  • With half a second to showtime, Colbert commands the Daniels to bury his double's body and breaks through the wall himself to thunderous applause.
    Emlyn Travis, EW.com, 7 Mar. 2023
  • Scientists would record six distinct bolts of lightning hammering a single spot in the space of half a second.
    William Wan, Washington Post, 12 June 2023
  • Overall, the reaction time is anywhere between 0.1 to half a second.
    Jacek Krywko, Ars Technica, 7 June 2024
  • The single-serve coffee maker, designed in partnership with DeLonghi, is compact and works in less than half a minute.
    NBC News, 25 Nov. 2020
  • Unfortunately most are snippets of half a minute in length, barely enough time to engage us.
    David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Feb. 2022
  • There was roughly half a minute between when local law enforcement radioed that Crooks had a gun and shots were fired, according to Rowe.
    Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2024
  • The city has contracted with a company that can bring interpreters of 286 languages to the phone within half a minute, officials said.
    Arkansas Online, 9 Oct. 2021
  • That record was beaten by approximately half a minute later that same day.
    Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2021
  • The digital lock can store up to 10 different fingerprints, unlocks in less than half a second and is rechargeable by USB-C port.
    Bellamy Richardson, wsj.com, 8 Nov. 2023
  • In half a minute Desplat has evoked the gender and political dynamics Ang Lee seeks to explore with his entire film.
    Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2024
  • The crew only began the escape sequence after waiting almost half a minute, at an altitude of 1,500 feet.
    Jeremy Hsu, Discover Magazine, 2 Aug. 2015
  • Yet here’s Israel, half a minute from an authoritarian (almost) apartheid (already) state and mums the word on billions in aid.
    Claire Parker, Washington Post, 29 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'half a minute/second.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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