clock is ticking
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Time is passing and a decision must be made quickly
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
thời gian đang trôi và quyết định phải được đưa ra nhanh chóng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a clock's sound
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The clock is ticking for the team to finish the project
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “clock is ticking” mean?
Time is passing and a decision must be made quickly Literally: a clock's sound
Is “clock is ticking” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.