standard time

noun

: the time of a region or country that is established by law or general usage as civil time (see civil sense 5)

… the advent of the railway system and its demand for accurate timetables created the need for standard time and GMT became the legal standard time of Britain in 1880.

—John Sallnow

specifically : the mean time of a meridian that is a multiple of 15 arbitrarily applied to a local area or to one of the 24 time zones and designated as a number of hours earlier or later than Greenwich Mean Time

At a little after nine Central Standard Time on the night of Monday, April 13, 1970 there was, high in the western sky, a tiny flare of light that in some respects resembled a star exploding far away in our galaxy.

—Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr.

Examples of standard time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Uniform Time Act only allows states to opt out of observing daylight saving time, which is how Arizona is able to stay on standard time year-round. —Emily Brooks, The Hill, 18 Dec. 2024

Just a few months into the experiment, Congress voted to go back to standard time after complaints of children going to school in the dark on winter mornings. —Joey Garrison, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Dec. 2024

By staying on standard time year-round, Arizona avoids extending daylight hours into the summer evenings when temperatures are at their peak. —Olivia Rose, The Arizona Republic, 14 Dec. 2024

Just a few months into the experiment, Congress acted to go back to standard time after complaints of children going to school in the dark on winter mornings. —Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1809, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

standard time

noun

: the time established by law or by general usage over a region or country