of the moment

Idioms  

1. Of importance at this time, as in The issue of the moment is dealing with our budget deficit. This expression gave rise in succeeding decades to the man of the moment, meaning “the most important person at this time,” as in When Alan hit a home run and broke the tie, he was the man of the moment. [c. 1930]

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Example Sentences

“You’ve got to balance the issue of the moment, but you can’t lose sight of the next hill, or even the hill beyond that,” he says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

Is he guided by consistent principles, or by the whims of the moment?

From Slate • Jun. 2, 2026

I think that there’s a time for comedy of the moment, but then I also think there’s an aspect that you want to be timeless, and that’s what the specials are for me.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026

And it means that Stephen Colbert, one of the nation’s best vehicles for satirical critique, will no longer be on the air to make sense of the madness of the moment.

From Salon • May 19, 2026

Even more palpably, the fullest expression of his best energies always occurred when the long-term public interest, as he understood it, clashed with the political imperatives of the moment.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis