ˈmōmənt noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin momentum movement, motion, moment, influence, from earlier (assumed) movimentum, from movēre to move + -mentum -ment — more at move
1.
a. : a minute portion of time
the moment stretched out to a minute, the minute to an hour — Hesketh Pearson
a moment of dreadful suspense — Graham Greene
b. : a point of time : instant
to us … the moment 8:17 a.m. means something — Aldous Huxley
at this very moment of his life's lowest ebb — Osbert Sitwell
if the great famine had not come along at that particular moment — Paul Blanshard
c. : a comparatively brief period of time
this whole moment of thought hardly lasted five minutes — Carl Jonas
in moments of solitude when I was milking the cows — David Fairchild
a presidential candidate … must symbolize the forces seeking expression during his moment in history — V.L.Albjerg
d. : the present time — usually used with the
at the moment she is at work on her fourth novel — Holiday
the … flavor so much in fashion at the moment — Kenneth Hince
a catchword of the moment — J.A.R.Pimlott
e. : a particular period (as of importance, significance, or pleasure)
all had their moments when their subject … made them greater than their normal selves — R.E.Priestley
sailors have their moments as in any seaboard town — American Guide Series: New Hampshire
2. obsolete : a minute portion or part : particle
every little moment of the earth — Thomas Blundeville
3. : importance in influence or effect : consequence , consideration , weight
decisions of moment must be made by our government — L.H.Evans
meanings which are … of no moment to the student — Edward Sapir
taught men to reckon virtue of more moment than security — W.F.Hambly
the political issues of their day seemed … of enormous moment — Christopher Hollis
4. obsolete : a cause or motive of action : an influential point or consideration : a deciding factor
I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment — Shakespeare
5. : a definite period or point in a course of events: as
a. : a stage in historical development (as of an institution)
a document of one moment in the history of thought and sensibility in the nineteenth century — T.S.Eliot
b. : a stage in logical development, in cognition, or in the growing adequacy of thought
c. : a phase, aspect, or partial apprehension of a subject or thing
d. in existentialist theology : a timeless point of decision within the inner subjectivity of a person when he freely enacts his relationship to eternity
6.
a. : tendency or measure of tendency to produce motion especially about a point or axis
b. : the product of quantity (as a force) and the distance to a particular axis or point — see moment of a couple , moment of a force , moment of inertia
7. : an essential or constituent element (as of a complex conceptual entity)
the understanding is a necessary moment in the reason — Bernard Bosanquet
8. : the average or sum of the deviations or some power of the deviations of the elements of a frequency distribution from a specified norm
Synonyms: see importance