When you hear someone say, “Time flies,” what is that person saying? The time flies meaning most people are conveying is that time can pass quickly.
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What Is the Meaning of Time Flies?
If someone says, “Time flies,” no one thinks time is actually flying. Instead, time flies is an idiom, an expression that means something other than a literal interpretation of the words.
As mentioned earlier, time flies just means that time can pass very quickly. This is especially the case if you’re very busy or when, as an extended version goes, you’re having fun. We think of flight as fast, so it makes sense to say that time can fly.
No one knows when people first started using time flies in English. However, we do know that it’s a translation of the Latin tempus fugit. No one knows exactly when that started, either. But it’s been around for a long time; it’s in the works of the poet Virgil that were published around 29 B.C.
Example sentences:
- The last time I saw you, you were only up to my waist, and now look at you! Time flies!
- It feels as though we just started, but we’ve been at this for four hours. How time flies!
- My, time flies! It seems that just yesterday, you were in kindergarten, and now you’re all grown up!
- Becoming a grandparent is often a jolting reminder of how time flies.
- It’s already midnight? Time flies when you are busy.
- Time sure flies when you are preoccupied.
- The slideshow juxtaposing the graduates’ pictures with their baby pictures was a classic example of how time flies.
When and How to Use Time Flies
You can use time flies in both spoken and written conversations.
The examples show time flies can be part of a longer sentence and can stand on its own. You can even add an exclamation point. When you use it on its own, make sure to capitalize ‘time'” and punctuate the expression correctly since it’s a complete sentence.
This is nowhere close to a complete list, but here are some instances when you might use time flies:
- You’ve been doing something for a lot longer than it feels like.
- You haven’t seen someone in a long time and are amazed at the changes.
- Something that seems to have occurred only recently actually occurred much longer ago.
- Something you’re enjoying comes to an end much sooner than you’d like it to.
- You can’t believe how much time has passed. For example, this might apply to two adults who were childhood friends catching up with each other’s lives.
Other Ways to Say Time Flies
Is there a similar phrase to “Time flies”? There are many, and the following list will give you some good examples. Some may actually be better for a particular situation.
- The clock is ticking
- Time slips away.
- Time is slipping away.
- Time passes quickly.
- Time is running out.
- Time waits for no one.
- Time is a thief.
- Time passes in the blink of an eye.
- The days/years slip by.
- The hours seem to vanish.
Fun Fact: If you are a Shakespeare fan, he wrote “the swiftest hours, as they flew,” which carries the same meaning as the idiom. Another fun fact? Alexander Pope wrote, “Swift fly the years.”
Final Thoughts
The time flies meaning almost everyone uses is that time passes quickly.
Remember, it’s a common expression that has been around for a long time. In fact, its origins lie in a Latin phrase used over two thousand years ago.
