/ ˈməʊmənt; NAmE ˈmoʊ-/ noun
1.
a very short period of time :
Could you wait a moment , please?
One moment, please (= Please wait a short time) .
He thought for a moment before replying.
I'll be back in a moment .
We arrived not a moment too soon (= almost too late) .
Moments later (= a very short time later) , I heard a terrible crash.
—see also senior moment
2.
[ sing. ] an exact point in time :
We're busy at the moment (= now) .
I agreed in a moment of weakness.
At that very moment , the phone rang.
From that moment on , she never felt really well again.
3.
[ C ] a particular occasion; a time for doing sth :
I'm waiting for the right moment to tell him the bad news.
That was one of the happiest moments of my life.
Have I caught you at a bad moment?
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IDIOMS
- (at) any moment (now)
- at this moment in time
- for the moment / present
- have its / your moments
- the moment of truth
- the moment (that) ...
- not for a / one moment
- of moment
- of the moment
—more at just adverb , last determiner , notice noun , psychological , spur noun , wait verb
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English : from Latin momentum , from movimentum , from movere to move.