hours

Meanings

1. 1nounplural

   Units of time, each lasting sixty minutes, used to measure how long something takes or lasts.

   Grammar: Plural of hour; used with numbers or quantity words: three hours, a few hours.

   Patterns

   • for hours
   • hours of something
   • in a few hours

   The flight takes about six hours.

   We waited for hours before anyone answered.

   She spends hours of her week practicing the violin.

2. 2nounusually plural

   The set times during which a business, office, or service is open or a person is working.

   Grammar: Almost always plural in this sense: opening hours, working hours.

   Patterns

   • opening hours
   • working hours
   • outside office hours

   The library has longer hours on weekdays.

   He works irregular hours at the hospital.

   Please call during office hours.

3. 3nounpluralinformal

   A very long or unspecified stretch of time, often used for emphasis.

   Grammar: Informal exaggeration, usually with for: it took hours.

   Patterns

   • take hours
   • for hours on end

   Getting through the airport took hours.

   They talked for hours on end.

Word forms

Common combinations

opening hours

The museum's opening hours are posted by the door.

work long hours

Nurses often work long hours.

office hours

My professor holds office hours on Tuesdays.

for hours on end

The kids played outside for hours on end.

rush hours

Avoid the highway during rush hours.

Synonyms and how they differ

time

Time is a general word and does not specify a sixty-minute unit like hours.

period

Period names any stretch of time, not a fixed length.

Word family

hour noun

one sixty-minute unit

hourly adjective

happening or paid every hour

hourly adverb

every hour

Commonly confused: hours or ours? hours or our?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “hours”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words