momentous
Americanadjective
adjective
Related Words
See heavy.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of momentous
Explanation
Momentous describes an important event or moment in time. It is used for a time of great consequence or for a major accomplishment, and is almost always reserved for good things. When a moment is so great you know you'll never forget it, you have just experienced something momentous. It can be personal — perhaps the day you were named prom queen; or something historic — like the day Elizabeth was named Queen of England. Momentous and momentary share the root word moment but momentary describes just one fleeting moment in time. A momentary occurrence can certainly be momentous, but it's not always the case.
Vocabulary lists containing momentous
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 3
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "M"
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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.
Some fellow students knew Roberts’ politics but insisted that he didn’t engage in debates about these momentous battles.
From Slate • May 7, 2026
“The plan is momentous because it would be the first internationally enforced decarbonization program,” Ella Baldwin, an energy policy consultant in the Houston office of Rystad Energy, a Norwegian research firm, says in an interview.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
And it barely registered as a momentous occasion - a marker of progress achieved under Emery, who has transformed the club and raised standards and expectations in recent seasons.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
Closing off a momentous week for both companies, CoreWeave and Anthropic announced a multi-year compute agreement on Friday that’s scheduled to go online later this year.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026
That outcome, with all of its momentous advantages for Eurasian societies, stemmed from three basic facts of mammalian geography, history, and biology.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
