prime time

See also: primetime and prime-time

English

Alternative forms

• prime-time, primetime
• prymtyme (archaic)

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

prime time (uncountable)

1. (television, radio) The block of programming on television during the middle of the evening, usually between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm.
2. The busiest or most important period.
   • 2022 October 17, Priya Krishna, “It’s Not Diwali Without Mithai”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Mass-produced mithai are readily available online, but these five independent shops make their sweets by hand every day, offering their local South Asian communities a taste of the familiar. Diwali is their prime time.

3. (figurative) Maturity; the state at which a person or product will be accepted by the mainstream.
   • 2000, Ira Brodsky, Network World, page 18:

     It took years longer than proponents had hoped, but wireless data is ready for prime time.

   • 2005, Leanna Stiefel, Measuring School Performance and Efficiency: Implications for Practice and Research, Eye On Education, →ISBN, page 13:

     Can these measures be regarded as useful, promising, or not ready for prime time? We focus only on the utility of these measures for use by policymakers.

   • 2007, John E. Richardson, Annual Editions: Marketing 08/09, →ISBN:

     Now, as more and more businesses re-orient themselves to serve the consumer, ethnography has entered prime time.

   • 2008, J. Richard Kuzmyak, Forecasting Metropolitan Commercial and Freight Travel, Transportation Research Board, →ISBN, page 3:

     And as with commodity-based models, tour-based models have also not yet reached prime time.

4. (obsolete) Spring.
5. (obsolete) A new period or time of youthfulness; the beginning of something.

Translations

block of television programming

• Catalan: hora punta f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黃金時段／黄金时段 (huángjīn shíduàn), 黃金時間／黄金时间 (huángjīn shíjiān)

• Finnish: (television) paras katseluaika, (radio) paras kuunteluaika
• French: première partie de soirée f, heure de plus grande écoute f
• Galician: horario central m, horario estelar m, horario de máxima audiencia m
• German: Hauptsendezeit f, Prime Time f
• Hebrew: זְמַן שִׂיא m (zmán si'), שְׁעַת הַשִּׁיא (sh'át si')
• Hungarian: főműsoridő (hu)
• Irish: príomh-am m, príomh-am sceidil m
• Italian: prima serata f
• Japanese: ゴールデンタイム (ja) (gōrudentaimu), プライムタイム (ja) (puraimutaimu)
• Macedonian: ударно време n (udarno vreme)
• Malay: masa perdana, masa prima, waktu perdana, waktu prima
• Polish: prime time (pl) m
• Portuguese: horário nobre (pt)
• Russian: прайм-та́йм (ru) m (prajm-tájm), лу́чшее эфи́рное вре́мя n (lúčšeje efírnoje vrémja)
• Spanish: horario central m, horario estelar m, horario de máxima audiencia m
• Swedish: bästa sändningstid
• Ukrainian: прайм-та́йм m (prajm-tájm)

Adjective

prime time (not comparable)

1. (television, radio) Showing or broadcasting during prime time.

Derived terms

• ready for prime time

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English prime time.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁajm tajm/

Noun

prime time m (countable and uncountable, plural prime times)

1. (usually uncountable) prime time
2. (Canada, countable) type of cigarillo

Synonyms

• première partie de soirée