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 )
Related Words
See minute 1. See importance.
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.
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
Appeared in the March 7, 2026, print edition as 'Andy Beshear’s Moment of Choice'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
Charli XCX co-produced "The Moment", and also has two smaller acting roles in films that screened at Sundance, Gregg Araki's "I Want Your Sex" and "The Gallerist", by Cathy Yan.
From Barron's • Feb. 14, 2026
The singer is also starring in the satirical film The Moment, which revisits the cultural phenomenon that followed the release of her 2024 album.
From BBC • Feb. 5, 2026
I nodded, and looked around awkwardly because we were standing outside Kitchen Kapers, in the middle of the mall, having a Moment.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
