momentarily

momentarily

English

Etymology

momentary +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊməntɛɹɪlɪi/, /ˈməʊmɛntɛɹɪlɪi/

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Adverb

momentarily (not comparable)

1. (manner) In a momentary manner; for a moment or instant.
   • 2010 December 23, Phillip Roth, “Prologue”, in The Great American Novel‎, →ISBN, page 21:

     I imagined momentarily that it was four score and seven years ago, that I had just been brought forth from my mother […]

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:

     The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone.

2. (US, proscribed, duration) In a moment or very soon; any minute now, any time now.
   • 1880, Wallace, Lew, chapter 3, in Ben-Hur, a Tale of the Christ:

     He told me, further, that the second coming was at hand--was looked for momentarily in Jerusalem.

   This plane will be landing at Idlewild Airport momentarily.

3. Progressively; moment by moment.

Usage notes

Many speakers object to the use of momentarily in the sense of “in a moment” rather than “for a moment”, since this is inconsistent with the meaning of momentary;[1][2] nonetheless, this use is quite common in North America, and is particularly associated with airlines, such as “we will be landing momentarily”.[3][1][2] In place of momentarily, many speakers prefer the terms presently, soon[1][2] or the phrase “in a moment”,[2] for this sense of “in a moment”.

Synonyms

• (in a moment): presently, shortly, soon; see also Thesaurus:soon
• (for a moment): briefly, temporarily; see also Thesaurus:temporarily
• (moment by moment): incrementally, progressively, step by step; see also Thesaurus:gradually

Translations

In a momentary manner

Bulgarian: моментно (bg) (momentno) Dutch: even (nl) Esperanto: momente Finnish: hetkeksi (fi), hetkellisesti German: momentan (de) Hungarian: egy pillanatra Norwegian: Bokmål: momentant Nynorsk: momentant Polish: chwilowo (pl) Romanian: momentan (ro)

In a moment or very soon

Bulgarian: мигновено (bg) (mignoveno) Dutch: zo (nl) Esperanto: momente Finnish: koska hyvänsä, millä hetkellä hyvänsä German: jeden Moment, jeden Augenblick Hungarian: hamarosan (hu) Norwegian: straks (no), veldig snart, veldig snart, øyeblikkelig (no), straks (no), straks (no) Romanian: imediat (ro) Russian: вско́ре (ru) (vskóre)

progressively; moment by moment — see progressively,‎ step by step

References

1. “Just a Moment”, by William Safire, New York Times, May 11, 1997
2. I Stand Corrected: More on Language, by William Safire pp. 137–138
3. On language, by William Safire, 1980, p. 9