moment

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English

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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moment (countable and uncountable, plural moments)

  1. A particular point, or relatively small region, either of space (a "spot") or of time (an "instant").
    Synonyms: (space) point, spot, (time) minute, moment
    • 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; see also Thesaurus:moment
    Wait a moment, while I lock the front door.
  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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii], 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. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page [176]:
      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

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  • 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

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin mōmentum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Further reading

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Czech

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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moment m inan

  1. moment (specific instant or time)

Declension

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Declension of moment (hard masculine inanimate)
singular plural
nominative moment momenty
genitive momentu momentů
dative momentu momentům
accusative moment momenty
vocative momente momenty
locative momentě, momentu momentech
instrumental momentem momenty
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Further reading

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  • “moment”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “moment”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: moment
  • → Indonesian: momen

French

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Etymology

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From Latin mōmentum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Descendants

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See also

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Further reading

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Friulian

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Etymology

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From Latin mōmentum.

Noun

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moment m (plural moments)

  1. moment, instant

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Latin momentum, from movere.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Occitan

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Etymology

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From Latin mōmentum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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moment m (plural moments)

  1. moment

Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin mōmentum.[1][2][3] First attested in 1592.[4]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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) [with w (+ locative) ‘in what’]
  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

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Declension of moment
singular plural
nominative moment momenty
genitive momentu momentów
dative momentowi momentom
accusative moment momenty
instrumental momentem momentami
locative momencie momentach
vocative momencie momenty

Interjection

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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

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adjectives
adverbs

Descendants

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Trivia

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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.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “moment”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
  2. ^ Stanisław Dubisz, editor (2003), “moment”, in Uniwersalny słownik języka polskiego [Universal dictionary of the Polish language]‎[1] (in Polish), volumes 1-4, Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN SA, →ISBN
  3. ^ Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “moment”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN
  4. ^ Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “moment”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
  5. ^ Ida Kurcz (1990) “moment”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 253

Further reading

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French moment, from Latin momentum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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moment n (plural momente)

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

Declension

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Declension of moment
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) moment momentul (niște) momente momentele
genitive/dative (unui) moment momentului (unor) momente momentelor
vocative momentule momentelor

Derived terms

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See also

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Swedish

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Etymology

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From Latin momentum.

Noun

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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

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Declension of moment
nominative genitive
singular indefinite moment moments
definite momentet momentets
plural indefinite moment moments
definite momenten momentens

Derived terms

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References

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Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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moment m (plural momentau)

  1. (physics) moment

Derived terms

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Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
moment foment unchanged unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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