MOMENT


Meaning of MOMENT in English

(~s)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

You can refer to a very short period of time, for example a few seconds, as a ~ or ~s.

In a ~ he was gone...

She stared at him a ~, then turned away...

Stop for one ~ and think about it!...

In ~s, I was asleep once more.

= minute, second

N-COUNT

2.

A particular ~ is the point in time at which something happens.

At this ~ a car stopped at the house...

Many people still remember the ~ when they heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated.

N-COUNT: with supp

3.

If you say that something will or may happen at any ~ or any ~ now, you are emphasizing that it is likely to happen very soon.

They ran the risk of being shot at any ~...

He’ll be here to see you any ~ now.

PHRASE emphasis

4.

You use expressions such as at the ~, at this ~, and at the present ~ to indicate that a particular situation exists at the time when you are speaking.

At the ~, no one is talking to me...

This is being planned at the present ~...

= now, currently

PHRASE

5.

If you say that you do not believe for a ~ or for one ~ that something is true, you are emphasizing that you do not believe that it could possibly be true.

I don’t for a ~ think there’ll be a divorce.

= for a minute

PHRASE: with brd-neg, PHR with v emphasis

6.

You use for the ~ to indicate that something is true now, even if it will not be true in the future.

For the ~, however, the government is happy to live with it.

PHRASE: PHR with cl

7.

If you say that someone or something has their ~s, you are indicating that there are times when they are successful or interesting, but that this does not happen very often.

The film has its ~s...

PHRASE: V inflects

8.

If someone does something at the last ~, they do it at the latest time possible.

They changed their minds at the last ~ and refused to go.

PHRASE: prep PHR

9.

You use the expression the next ~, or expressions such as ‘one ~ he was there, the next he was gone’, to emphasize that something happens suddenly, especially when it is very different from what was happening before.

The next ~ there was an almighty crash...

He is unpredictable, weeping one ~, laughing the next.

PHRASE emphasis

10.

You use of the ~ to describe someone or something that is or was especially popular at a particular time, especially when you want to suggest that their popularity is unlikely to last long or did not last long.

He’s the man of the ~, isn’t he?

PHRASE: n PHR

11.

If you say that something happens the ~ something else happens, you are emphasizing that it happens immediately after the other thing.

The ~ I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.

PHRASE: PHR that emphasis

12.

spur of the ~: see spur

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .