moment - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

A moment is a particular point in time. Some moments you remember forever: like the moment you earned your driver's license or the moment you learned that you passed Organic Chemistry.

A moment is a short, but unspecified, amount of time. At Thanksgiving, you are supposed to take a moment to be grateful for friends and family. Or maybe you have been asked to observe a "moment of silence" for a national tragedy. Moment can also mean "importance." If you say something is "of little moment," then you are saying it doesn't matter.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: moment

1	n	an indefinitely short time
2	n	a turning force produced by an object acting at a distance (or a measure of that force)
3	n	the n-th moment of a distribution is the expected value of the n-th power of the deviations from a fixed value

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: moment

1

n an indefinitely short time

“wait just a moment”

Synonyms:: bit, minute, mo, second

Types:: New York minute, blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink
a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

Type of:: time
an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes or activities)

n a particular point in time

“the moment he arrived the party began”

Synonyms:: instant, minute, second

Types:: show 9 types...; hide 9 types...; climax, culmination
the decisive moment in a novel or play; eleventh hour, last minute
the latest possible moment; moment of truth
a crucial moment on which much depends; moment of truth
the moment in a bullfight when the matador kills the bull; pinpoint
a very brief moment; time
a suitable moment; psychological moment
the most appropriate time for achieving a desired effect; high time
the latest possible moment; occasion
the time of a particular event

Type of:: point, point in time
an instant of time

n at this time

“she is studying at the moment”

Synonyms:: here and now, present moment

Type of:: nowadays, present
the period of time that is happening now; any continuous stretch of time including the moment of speech

n having important effects or influence

“virtue is of more moment than security”

Synonyms:: consequence, import

Antonyms:: inconsequence
having no important effects or influence

Types:: matter
(used with negation) having consequence; hell to pay
dire consequences

Type of:: significance
the quality of being significant

2

n a turning force produced by an object acting at a distance (or a measure of that force)

Types:: show 5 types...; hide 5 types...; moment of inertia
the tendency of a body to resist angular acceleration; moment of a couple
given two equal and opposite forces, the product of the force and the distance between them; dipole moment
the moment of a dipole; electric dipole moment
the dipole moment in an electric dipole; magnetic dipole moment
(physics) a current loop gives rise to a magnetic field characteristic of a magnetic dipole

Type of:: force
(physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity

3

n the n-th moment of a distribution is the expected value of the n-th power of the deviations from a fixed value

Types:: show 4 types...; hide 4 types...; second moment
the expected value of the square of the deviations of a random variable from the point of origin; variance
the second moment around the mean; the expected value of the square of the deviations of a random variable from its mean value; standard deviation
the square root of the variance; covariance
(statistics) the mean value of the product of the deviations of two variates from their respective means

Type of:: statistic
a datum that can be represented numerically