momentary

From Middle English momentare, from Late Latin mōmentārius (“of brief duration”), from mōmentum (“a short time, an instant”). By surface analysis, moment +‎ -ary.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊmənˌtɛɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊmənt(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧men‧ta‧ry

momentary (comparative more momentary, superlative most momentary)

1. Lasting for only a moment.
2. Happening at every moment; perpetual.
3. Ephemeral or relatively short-lived.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: for G. Fenton  , →OCLC:

     Yet oh! what an immense difference did I feel between this impression of a pleasure merely animal, and struck out of the collision of the sexes by a passive bodily effect, from that sweet fury, that rage of active delight which crowns the enjoyments of a mutual love-passion, where two hearts, tenderly and truly united, club to exalt the joy, and give it a spirit and soul that bids defiance to that end which mere momentary desires generally terminate in, when they die of a surfeit of satisfaction!

   • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

     Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, […] .”

• See also Thesaurus:ephemeral

• “momentary”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• manometry