Momentous Meaning
/məʊˈmɛn.təs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOutstanding in importance, of great consequence.
Sentence Examples
The discovery will have a momentous effect on the treatment of cancer.
The falling of the Berlin Wall was truly a momentous occasion.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The leaders considered the signing of the peace treaty a ____ moment in history.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The signing of the new peace treaty was a ____ event that marked the end of the long and very difficult conflict.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English moment Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ōtsos or *-otsos Latin -ōsus Old French -usbor. Middle English -ous English -ous English momentous From moment (“weight, importance”) + -ous.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The reason why I did not publish this book till the end of the last sessions of parliament was, because I did not care to interfere with more momentous affairs."
— 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:
""It has been a momentous month, and I hope we shall all retain healthful recollections of it as long as we live.""
— 1831, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 31, in Homeward Bound:
"What to the other parties was merely the sale of a ship was to him a momentous event involving a radically new view of existence."
— 1902, Joseph Conrad, chapter 3, in The End of the Tether:
"The last train ran on December 31, 1932, almost unnoticed, for it coincided with the running of the last steam passenger train down the main line from London to Brighton, a much more momentous event."
— 1952 December, R. C. Riley, “By Rail to Kemp Town”, in Railway Magazine, page 835:
"Natural selection is arguably the most momentous idea ever to occur to a human mind, because it — alone as far as we know — explains the elegant illusion of design that pervades the living kingdoms and explains, in passing, us."
— 2007 July 1, Richard Dawkins, “Inferior Design”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 Nov 2013:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The leaders considered the signing of the peace treaty a ____ moment in history.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The signing of the new peace treaty was a ____ event that marked the end of the long and very difficult conflict.