1
: employed for or involving full time
full-time employees
full-time work
2
: devoting one's full attention and energies to something
a full-time gambler
full-time adverb

full time

2 of 2

noun

: the amount of time considered the normal or standard amount for working during a given period

Examples of full-time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Adjective
Microsoft had 223,000 full-time employees globally as of June 30, according to its annual filing. — Reuters, NBC news, 26 Oct. 2026 Prior to working in Hollywood, Atchity served as an assistant professor of English and comparative literature at Occidental College before earning tenure and becoming a full-time professor. — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 24 Oct. 2026 The exhibition celebrates these workers, many of them immigrants, through exhibits like the photographs of Robert Doisneau, who worked for Renault full-time from 1934 to 1939. — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026 The Boston native later became a small-screen superstar, winning an Emmy for The Practice and two more for its spinoff, Boston Legal, before The Blacklist more or less became his full-time job. — Sezin Devi Koehler, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for full-time

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1821, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of full-time was in 1821

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Cite this Entry

“Full-time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/full-time. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Kids Definition

full-time

adjective
ˈfu̇l-ˈtīm
: working or involving the full number of hours considered normal or standard
a full-time job
full-time employees
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