bide one's time
"bide-one-s-time" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bide one's time” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To wait, especially for a suitable opportunity.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bide one's time |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bide one's time” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bide one's time is 15 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To wait, especially for a suitable opportunity.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bide one's time, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is bide one's time, spelled B-I-D-E- -O-N-E-'-S- -T-I-M-E.
Definition
- 1To wait, especially for a suitable opportunity.
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bide one's time”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-I-D-E- -O-N-E-'-S- -T-I-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.