moment

plural moments

1. A particular point, or relatively small region.
   1. countableuncountableA particular point of space; a spot.

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

      1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread, chapter 7, third paragraph

      Synonyms: point, spot

   2. countableuncountableA particular point of time; an instant.

      2 more examples

      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.

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

      "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 when 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..."

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

      Synonyms: instant, minute, instant, juncture, minute, occasion, point in time, sith

2. countableuncountableA brief, unspecified amount of time.

   Wait a moment, while I lock the front door.

   3 more examples

   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.

   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

   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.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   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.

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

   Synonyms: stound, instant, trice

3. countablefigurativelyuncountableWeight or importance.

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

   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

   4 more examples

   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.

   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]

   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.

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

   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.

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

   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).

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

4. countableuncountableengineeringA product of a distance and another physical quantity.
   1. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableengineeringEllipsis of moment of force.

      Synonyms: torque

5. countablehistoricaluncountableunitA definite period of time, specifically one-tenth of a point, or one-fortieth or one-fiftieth of an hour.
6. countableinformaluncountablemedicineA petit mal episode; such a spell.
7. colloquialcountableuncountableA fit; a brief tantrum.
8. countableuncountablemathematicsAn infinitesimal change in a varying quantity; an increment or decrement.
9. countableuncountablemathematicsA 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. Internetcountableuncountablefrequently derogatory; usually preceded by a noun; frequently derogatory; usually preceded by a nounAn embarrassing event, supposed to be characteristic of some person, group, or situation.

    woman moment

    1 more example

    Reddit moment

11. InternetcolloquialcountableuncountableThe current center of public attention and awe; the most important celebrity in their prime.

    She’s got a point. She’s an icon, she is a legend, and she is the moment. Now, come on, now. You got to give it up to Kim.

plural Moments

1. A surname.