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.
The fall transition back to standard time does not appear to have offsetting benefits. David Faris, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 2024 Eight months later, in October 1974, President Gerald Ford signed a bill to put the U.S. on standard time for four months of the year. Addy Bink, The Hill, 15 Dec. 2024 Given that no one can decide which option is best, why not compromise, making everyone a bit unhappy, by setting the 30 minute point between daylight saving time and standard time throughout the year? Sheldon H. Jacobson, Boston Herald, 30 Oct. 2024 On the first Sunday of November, at 2 a.m., clocks fall back an hour to standard time. Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2024 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

Dictionary Entries Near standard time

Cite this Entry

“Standard time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/standard%20time. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.

Kids Definition

standard time

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

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