moment
Americannoun
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moments
plural
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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.
See Examples For:
In my classroom, that means turning to the Bard to teach the most important lesson in accounting: recognizing, in the moment, when you are the one taking the first step down the slope.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
I personally regret every time I put wind in the sails of a deeply unfunny and offensive man by politely laughing, feeling too awkward to course-correct the moment.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2026
The big trend of the moment in A.I. is what I’ll call “the cute little guy.”
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
A 'landmark' moment - why has Rwanda been chosen to host F1?
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
A part of him—indeed, a large part—was enjoying this charade, this moment wherein he plunged headfirst into this caricature the humans had created.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Users can also set up the devices to recognize key moments throughout the day, like someone leaving for work, and automatically adjust temperature, door locks and cameras, according to Apple.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Who on Earth would genuinely want Fielder, the human equivalent of a skunk, to crash their last moments with their loved ones as he does his darnedest to stink up the place?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
It’s hard to stand up in moments like these, but look what happens when we don’t.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2026
Nick Mendenhall said he witnessed the fatal moments in disbelief, watching the man come out of his seat and then fall into another cart on the ride before falling to the ground.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
So, apparently when Grandma said she’d take care of it, she meant she’d blindside Dad and tell him just moments before we got in the cab.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
