moment
Americannoun
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an indefinitely short period of time; instant.
I'll be with you in a moment.
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Usually the moment the present time or any other particular time.
He is busy at the moment.
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a definite period or stage, as in a course of events; juncture.
at this moment in history.
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importance or consequence.
a decision of great moment.
- Synonyms:
- momentousness, magnitude, weight, significance
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a particular time or period of success, excellence, fame, etc..
His big moment came in the final game.
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Statistics. the mean or expected value of the product formed by multiplying together a set of one or more variates or variables each to a specified power.
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Philosophy.
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an aspect of a thing.
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Obsolete. an essential or constituent factor.
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Mechanics.
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a tendency to produce motion, especially about an axis.
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the product of a physical quantity and its directed distance from an axis.
moment of area; moment of mass.
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noun
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a short indefinite period of time
he'll be here in a moment
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a specific instant or point in time
at that moment the doorbell rang
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the present point of time
at the moment it's fine
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import, significance, or value
a man of moment
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physics
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a tendency to produce motion, esp rotation about a point or axis
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the product of a physical quantity, such as force or mass, and its distance from a fixed reference point See also moment of inertia
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statistics the mean of a specified power of the deviations of all the values of a variable in its frequency distribution. The power of the deviations indicates the order of the moment and the deviations may be from the origin (giving a moment about the origin ) or from the mean (giving a moment about the mean )
Synonym Usage
See minute 1. See importance.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of moment
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, Middle French, from Latin mōmentum “motion, cause of motion,” hence, “influence, importance, essential factor, moment of time,” from movimentum (unattested), equivalent to mō- (variant stem of the verb movēre move ) + -mentum -ment
Explanation
A moment is a particular point in time. Some moments you remember forever: like the moment you earned your driver's license or the moment you learned that you passed your organic chemistry class. A moment is a short, but unspecified, amount of time. At Thanksgiving, you are supposed to take a moment to be grateful for friends and family. Or maybe you have been asked to observe a "moment of silence" for a national tragedy. Moment can also mean "importance." If you say something is "of little moment," then you are saying it doesn't matter.
Vocabulary lists containing moment
Force and Motion (Mechanics) - Middle School
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Words Coined or Popularized by Presidents
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Mechanical Engineering
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Appeared in the April 18, 2026, print edition as 'The Mahjong Moment'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
The research, led by Clough, a recent doctoral graduate, was published in RSC Analytical Methods and supported by the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts' Meet the Moment Research Initiative.
From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026
Her new number one arrived on the same day that the Brit Award winner saw the cinematic release her Aidan Zamiri-directed mockumentary, The Moment.
From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026
"I'm obviously quite related to my character," the 33-year-old British singer quipped at the Sundance Film Festival, where "The Moment" premiered on Friday.
From Barron's • Jan. 24, 2026
Moment by moment, he sorted out what had happened during the storm.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
