moment

English

Etymology

From Middle English moment, from Old French moment, from Latin mōmentum. Doublet of momentum and movement.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊmənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊmənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧ment

Noun

moment (countable and uncountable, plural moments)

1. A particular point, or relatively small region, either of space (a "spot") or of time (an "instant").
   • 1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread , chapter 7, third paragraph:

     ...over everything there lay a deposit of heavy white dust, which was only blown off one moment to thicken on another.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

   • 1976, Richard Duprey, Duel on the Wind , part 4, chapter 1:

     "You know, we all have our own lives to live. Now and then we get confused, we become weak and vulnerable. We have to look around for help. Sometimes we get lucky and there's someone who loves us to support us, to help us along. We have a right, being human, to those moments of weakness. We have a right to get confused and ask for help. But hen that help is offered and accepted, we don't have a right to remain confused forever, to keep those who help us standing by in a kind of limbo..."

2. A brief, unspecified amount of time.

   Synonyms: stound, instant, trice

   Wait a moment, while I lock the front door.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:

     Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.

   • 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:

     Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.

3. (figurative) Weight or importance.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 67:

     In deep designs, in matter of great moment, / No less importing than our general good.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume I, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page :

     However, upon a ſtrict Review, I blotted out ſeveral Paſſages of leſs Moment which were in my firſt Copy, for fear of being cenſured as tedious and trifling, whereof Travellers are often, perhaps not without Juſtice, accuſed.

   • 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Second Stain, Norton, published 2005, page 1192:

     The document in question is of such immense importance that its publication might very easily – I might almost say probably – lead to European complications of the utmost moment.

   • 1941 May, “Notes and News: William Stroudley”, in Railway Magazine, page 234:

     As to any suggestion that Stroudley's engines were not free-running at high speed, this was of little moment with 60 m.p.h. laid down as the limit at that time.

   • 1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 274:

     Britannia therefore has the advantage over only two classes, the rebuilt "Scots" and the "V2s", and in only two respects, maximum axle load (which is important) and weight of tender (which is of little moment).

4. (physics, mechanics) Ellipsis of moment of force.

   Synonym: torque

5. (historical, unit) A definite period of time, specifically one-tenth of a point, or one-fortieth or one-fiftieth of an hour.
6. (neurology, informal) A petit mal episode; such a spell.
7. (colloquial) A fit; a brief tantrum.
8. (mathematics) An infinitesimal change in a varying quantity; an increment or decrement.
9. (mathematics) A quantitative measure of the shape of a set of points.

   If the points represent mass, then the zeroth moment is the total mass, the first moment divided by the total mass is the center of mass, and the second moment is the rotational inertia.

10. (Internet slang, derogatory, usually preceded by a noun) An embarrassing event, supposed to be characteristic of some person, group, or situation.

    woman moment

    Reddit moment

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• torque

References

• 1897 Universal Dictionary of the English Language, v 3 p 3174. ("The smallest portion of time; an instant." is a direct quote from this Dictionary.)

Further reading

• moment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• montem

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mōmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ent

Noun

moment m (plural moments)

1. moment (specific instant or time)

   […] el català, malgrat tot, viu un moment de glòria efímera durant els darrers anys del segle XVIII i primers del XIX.

   Catalan, in spite of everything, had a moment of ephemeral glory in the last years of the 18th century and the first ones of the 19th.

Derived terms

• de moment
• momentet

Further reading

• “moment” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “moment”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “moment” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “moment” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

moment m inan

1. moment (specific instant or time)

Declension

Related terms

• See motiv

Further reading

• moment in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• moment in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch moment, from Middle French moment, from Latin momentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moːˈmɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

moment n (plural momenten, diminutive momentje n)

1. moment (very brief period of time)

   Synonym: ogenblik

2. (physics) moment of force, moment

   Synonym: krachtmoment

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: moment
• → Indonesian: momen

French

Etymology

From Latin mōmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.mɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

moment m (plural moments)

1. moment (point in time)
2. moment (short period of time)
3. a while

   Ça fait un moment que je l’attends

   I've been waiting for him for a while

4. (physics, mechanics) moment, momentum

Derived terms

See also

• instant

Further reading

• “moment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin mōmentum.

Noun

moment m (plural moments)

1. moment, instant

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin momentum, from movere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mʊˈmɛnt/

Noun

moment n (definite singular momentet, indefinite plural moment, definite plural momenta)

1. element, variable, contributing factor or circumstance

   Det er mange moment som spelar inn her.

   There are many variables at play here.

2. (physics) moment of force

References

• “moment” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin mōmentum.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn)

  (file)

Noun

moment m (plural moments)

1. moment

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

moment

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mōmentum. First attested in 1592.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.mɛnt/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.mɛnt/, /ˈmɔ.ment/

• Audio 1

  (file)

• Audio 2

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔmɛnt
• Syllabification: mo‧ment

Noun

moment m inan (diminutive momencik)

1. moment (short period of time)

   Synonym: chwila

2. moment (specific point or period in time)

   Synonym: chwila

3. moment (short period of development or continuance of something)
4. (physics) moment (turning effect of a force applied to a rotational system at a distance from the axis of rotation)

   moment bezwładności ― moment of inertia

   moment gnący / moment zginający ― bending moment

   moment pędu ― angular momentum, moment of momentum

   moment siły ― moment of force

   moment skręcający ― twisting moment

5. (film, humorous, television) sex scene (segment in a movie in which characters have sex)
6. (obsolete, mathematics) moment (infinitesimal change in a varying quantity; an increment or decrement)

Declension

Interjection

moment

1. (colloquial) wait a minute, wait a moment, wait a second (used when the speaker expects to refrain from speaking or acting for a short time)

   Synonyms: chwila, chwila moment, chwileczkę, momencik

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Kashubian: mòment, mòmeńt
• → Silesian: mōmynt

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), moment is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 12 times in scientific texts, 11 times in news, 16 times in essays, 37 times in fiction, and 15 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 91 times, making it the 701st most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

References

Further reading

• moment in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• moment in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• “MOMENT”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 13.10.2008
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “moment”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “moment”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “moment”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 1034

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French moment, from Latin momentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

moment n (plural momente)

1. moment (brief period of time) (clarification of this definition is needed)

Declension

Derived terms

• la un moment dat
• pentru moment

Related terms

• momentan

See also

• clipă
• secundă

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin momentum.

Noun

moment n

1. a step in a process

   Nästa moment blir att föra in stavarna i kärnreaktorn

   The next step will be to insert the rods into the nuclear reactor

   ett kritiskt moment

   a critical step

   hinderbanans armgångsmoment

   the monkey bars section of the obstacle course (the monkey bars step in the process of getting through the obstacle course)

2. an independent part of some (abstract) whole; an element, a factor
3. (physics) moment

Declension

Derived terms

• orosmoment
• överraskningsmoment

References

• moment in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• moment in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• moment in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔmɛnt/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːmɛnt/, /ˈmɔmɛnt/

Noun

moment m (plural momentau)

1. (physics) moment

Derived terms

• moment ddeubol (“dipole moment”)
• moment momentwm (“moment of momentum”)

Mutation