aha moment

Save This Word!

Definition of aha moment

noun Informal.

a point in time, event, or experience when one has a sudden insight or realization: My aha moment was when I put on my shorts from last summer and they didn’t fit.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of aha moment

From the expression aha, used to signal sudden awareness or comprehension

Words nearby aha moment

ah, aha, Ahab, Ahab, Captain, Ahad Haam, aha moment, ahankara, Ahasuerus, AHAUS, à haute voix, Ahaz

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use aha moment in a sentence

I’m dedicating my life to mathematics, the art of the shortcut, but I actually enjoy spending the time and having that aha moment when I find a little tunnel, which gets me through to the other side.
What’s Wrong With Shortcuts? (Ep. 483)|Stephen J. Dubner|November 18, 2021|Freakonomics
When I notice myself tensing up and scripting my words in an effort not to touch off emotional consequences with someone, that’s my aha moment that I’m involved with someone controlling.
Carolyn Hax: An estrangement, a new baby and a grandparent caught in the middle|Carolyn Hax|September 22, 2021|Washington Post
As she tells it, her aha moment came in the form of a drawing from her youngest son, who struggled to understand why his mother’s meetings kept taking precedent over him.
A new asynchronous video startup, Weet, is helping employees communicate on their own schedule|Connie Loizos|March 4, 2021|TechCrunch
The first was access to affordable health care, a confirmation of her aha moment with Tadyn.
The fight to stop the next pandemic starts in the jungles of Borneo|Brian Barth|December 2, 2020|Popular-Science

In that country at that moment, the Catholics have practically disappeared.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But Krauss said that from the moment he and the other scientists arrived on the island, they never saw anything untoward.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking|M.L. Nestel|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The massacre of cartoonists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo is a crystallizing moment.
Why We Stand With Charlie Hebdo—And You Should Too|John Avlon|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
At the moment, the only chance I get is when I go do Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And then I met him before I started doing the impression of him when he was a guest on SNL for a moment.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He was too drowsy to hold the thought more than a moment in his mind, much less to reflect upon it.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
They are very urgent questions; our sons and daughters will have to begin to deal with them from the moment they leave college.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Her eyes, for a moment, fixed themselves with a horrid conviction of a wide and nameless treachery.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
The thought seemed to produce the dreaded object, for next moment a large hummock appeared right ahead.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
At this moment an extraordinary commotion began among the watches.
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl

British Dictionary definitions for aha moment

aha moment

noun

an instant at which the solution to a problem becomes clear

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012