specious present
Americannoun
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.
Everything belonging to it is included with sensation in what is called the "specious present."
From The Analysis of Mind by Russell, Bertrand
For practical purposes "the present" is what is known as "the specious present," which covers a certain ill-defined period of duration from which the instantaneous "present moment" is recognised to be a mere abstraction.
From The Misuse of Mind by Stephen, Karin
The people who will not be patient with a troublesome neighbor, who want to bring everything to a "showdown" are no less the victims of a specious present.
From Public Opinion by Lippmann, Walter
Succession can occur within the specious present, of which we can distinguish some parts as earlier and others as later.
From The Analysis of Mind by Russell, Bertrand
So far as the two events are practically adjacent in one specious present, this continuity of passage may be directly perceived.
From The Concept of Nature The Tarner Lectures Delivered in Trinity College, November 1919 by Whitehead, Alfred North
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.
