give someone time
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
allow someone to have a period to think or act
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Cho phép ai đó có thời gian để suy nghĩ hoặc hành động
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: provide a person with an amount of time
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I'll give him time to decide on the proposal
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 “give someone time” mean?
allow someone to have a period to think or act Literally: provide a person with an amount of time
Is “give someone time” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.