standard time

noun

: the time of a region or country that is established by law or general usage as civil time (see civil sense 5)
… the advent of the railway system and its demand for accurate timetables created the need for standard time and GMT became the legal standard time of Britain in 1880.John Sallnow
specifically : the mean time of a meridian that is a multiple of 15 arbitrarily applied to a local area or to one of the 24 time zones and designated as a number of hours earlier or later than Greenwich Mean Time
At a little after nine Central Standard Time on the night of Monday, April 13, 1970 there was, high in the western sky, a tiny flare of light that in some respects resembled a star exploding far away in our galaxy. Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.

Examples of standard time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
On Thursday, a Senate committee debated whether to end the wrenching, twice-a-year shifts between daylight saving time and standard time. Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 12 Apr. 2025 The Uniform Time Act allows states to choose whether to participate in daylight saving time or stay in standard time all year. Sarah Linn and, Sacramento Bee, 8 Mar. 2025 Only about 6% backed a change to permanent standard time. Margery A. Beck, Chicago Tribune, 8 Mar. 2025 States with areas exempt from daylight saving time could choose the standard time for those areas. Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for standard time

Word History

First Known Use

1809, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of standard time was in 1809

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Cite this Entry

“Standard time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/standard%20time. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

standard time

noun
: the time established by law or by general usage over a region or country

More from Merriam-Webster on standard time

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