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What is the correct word for "happening every minute"? How do you pronounce it?

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up vote 17 down vote accepted

The word "minutely" does exist, but in the meaning "every minute" it's archaic (see e.g. Merriam-Webster or The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). The modern meaning is twofold: "in great detail, in a minute manner, with attention to detail" or "into tiny pieces".

What you are looking for is "minute by minute", "once a minute", "on a minute-by-minute basis" (thanks to Shinto Sherlock for setting the record straight on this one), or simply "every minute".

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You might also say "every minute, on the minute" if you wanted to convey something that happened exactly when the second hand hit :00. –  Joel Spolsky Sep 17 '10 at 3:19

"Every minute" or "once a minute" is correct. There isn't a single word for this. RegDwight points out "minute by minute" and "on a minute-by-minute basis", but note that "on a minute-by-minute basis" means something different from "every minute" - "he updates his blog on a minute-by-minute basis" - he updates his blog very frequently, perhaps not actually every minute - as opposed to "he updates his blog every minute" - he actually updates his blog every single minute.

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