moment
an indefinitely short period of time; instant: I'll be with you in a moment.
Usually the moment . the present time or any other particular time: He is busy at the moment.
a definite period or stage, as in a course of events; juncture: at this moment in history.
importance or consequence: a decision of great moment.
a particular time or period of success, excellence, fame, etc.: His big moment came in the final game.
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.
Philosophy.
an aspect of a thing.
Obsolete. an essential or constituent factor.
Mechanics.
a tendency to produce motion, especially about an axis.
the product of a physical quantity and its directed distance from an axis: moment of area; moment of mass.
Origin of moment
1synonym study For moment
Other words for moment
Words Nearby moment
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use moment in a sentence
You’ve got to play in the moment, and we’re really good at that.
College basketball’s kingdoms have gone haywire — in case you just started paying attention | Chuck Culpepper | February 12, 2021 | Washington PostThere have been some moments where I was able to take a step back and look at all that’s happened.
Matthew Hoppe was a little-known American soccer player — until he reached the Bundesliga | Steven Goff | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostFrom José Feliciano at the 1968 World Series to Whitney Houston at the Super Bowl in 1991, from moments both roiling and patriotic, there is a tradition here, and stripping sports of that feels too of the moment, too quick.
The pregame national anthem — in all its roiling contradictions — still has something to offer | Barry Svrluga | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostI’d like to thank my boys out here for doing everything right and getting us to this moment.
For this college football team, covid means the season starts in February — with Senior Day | Glynn A. Hill | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostNeither at the moment, though my three-year plan involves adopting a cat!
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 | THE DAILY BEASTBut 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 | THE DAILY BEASTThe massacre of cartoonists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo is a crystallizing moment.
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 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd 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 | THE DAILY BEASTHe was too drowsy to hold the thought more than a moment in his mind, much less to reflect upon it.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodThey 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) WellsHer 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 PorterThe thought seemed to produce the dreaded object, for next moment a large hummock appeared right ahead.
The Giant of the North | R.M. BallantyneAt this moment an extraordinary commotion began among the watches.
Davy and The Goblin | Charles E. Carryl
British Dictionary definitions for moment
/ (ˈməʊmənt) /
a short indefinite period of time: he'll be here in a moment
a specific instant or point in time: at that moment the doorbell rang
the moment the present point of time: at the moment it's fine
import, significance, or value: a man of moment
physics
a tendency to produce motion, esp rotation about a point or axis
the product of a physical quantity, such as force or mass, and its distance from a fixed reference point: See also moment of inertia
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)
Origin of moment
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with moment
In addition to the idiom beginning with moment
- moment of truth
also see:
- at this point (moment)
- every minute (moment) counts
- for the moment
- have one's moments
- just a minute (moment)
- live for the moment
- never a dull moment
- not for a moment
- of the moment
- on the spur of the moment
- weak moment
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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