momentum

English

Etymology

From Latin mōmentum. Doublet of moment.

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌmoʊˈmɛntəm/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

momentum (countable and uncountable, plural momentums or momenta)

  1. (physics) (of a body in motion) The tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity.
  2. The impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an idea or course of events. (i.e: a moment)
    • 1843, Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Old Apple Dealer", in Mosses from an Old Manse
      The travellers swarm forth from the cars. All are full of the momentum which they have caught from their mode of conveyance.
    • 1882, Thomas Hardy, Two on a Tower
      Their intention to become husband and wife, at first halting and timorous, had accumulated momentum with the lapse of hours, till it now bore down every obstacle in its course.
    • 2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎, page R29:
      Though his account of written communication over the past 5,000 years necessarily has a powerful forward momentum, his diversions down the fascinating byways of the subject are irresistible ...

Derived terms

Translations
impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an idea or course of events
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See also

Latin

Etymology

From *movimentum (compare later Medieval Latin movimentum), from moveō (“move, set in motion; excite”) + -mentum (“suffix used to forming nouns from verbs”).

Pronunciation
  • (Classical) IPA(key): /moːˈmen.tum/, [moːˈmɛn.tũ]

Noun

mōmentum n (genitive mōmentī); second declension

  1. movement, motion, impulse; course
  2. change, revolution, movement, disturbance
  3. particle, part, point
  4. (of time) brief space, moment, short time
  5. cause, circumstance; weight, influence, moment
  6. importance
  7. (New Latin, physics) momentum

Inflection

Second declension.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative mōmentum mōmenta
Genitive mōmentī mōmentōrum
Dative mōmentō mōmentīs
Accusative mōmentum mōmenta
Ablative mōmentō mōmentīs
Vocative mōmentum mōmenta

Derived terms

Descendants

References
  • momentum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • momentum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • momentum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • momentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • at the important moment: momento temporis
    • important results are often produced by trivial causes: ex parvis saepe magnarum rerum momenta pendent
    • to be of great (no) importance: magni (nullius) momenti esse
    • to determine the issue of; to turn the scale: momentum afferre ad aliquid
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