Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Physics A quantity used to measure the motion of a body, equal to the product of the body's mass and its velocity.
  • noun The force or energy exhibited by a moving body.
  • noun The driving force or advancing strength of a development or course of events.
  • noun Philosophy An essential or constituent element; a moment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In mech., the product of the mass and velocity of a body; the quantity of motion of a body.
  • noun An impulse; an impelling force; impetus.
  • noun Constituent or essential element. Compare moment, 6.
  • noun In musical notation, an eighth-rest.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mech.) The quantity of motion in a moving body, being always proportioned to the quantity of matter multiplied by the velocity; impetus.
  • noun Essential element, or constituent element.
  • noun A property of an activity or course of events, viewed as analogous to forward motion or to physical momentum (def. 1), such that the activity is believed to be able to continue moving forward without further application of force or effort; -- often used to describe an increase in the acquisition of public support for a purpose.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun physics (of a body in motion) the product of its mass and velocity.
  • noun The impetus, either of a body in motion, or of an idea or course of events. (i.e: a moment)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an impelling force or strength
  • noun the product of a body's mass and its velocity

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin mōmentum, movement, from *movimentum, from movēre, to move; see meuə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin momentum.

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Examples

  • The way for the visitability movement to gain momentum is by first increasing the awareness and interest in the need for this housing construction practice.

    Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt » 2009 » July 2009

  • The shift in momentum is being fueled by mainstream news editors who want to keep the action hot, without regard for accuracy.

    Poll of polls: Obama losing ground 2008

  • The label momentum dissipation seems to be used in the GCM world more than in other computational fluid dynamics applications.

    Exponential Growth in Physical Systems #2 « Climate Audit 2007

  • The word momentum is related to the word moment, and those moments for humility, curiosity, and veracity present themselves every day, in every meeting, with every person.

    Egonomics David Marcum 2007

  • The word momentum may be the only way to describe O'Reilly's stock for the better part of the past year.

    unknown title 2012

  • Cricket World Cup 2011: England look to build momentum with a solid win against Bangladesh The word momentum cropped up regularly during the Ashes and it will be on the agenda again for England on Friday as they look to achieve the twin goals of qualifying for the knock-out phase and a measure of consistency.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011

  • Mere Oasis ... or has the title momentum swung to the blue side of Manchester?

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • United looked lacklustre against the Blues without Rooney in the side and Ancelotti believes Rooney's absence has turned the title momentum in Chelsea's favour.

    ESPNsoccernet soccernet.com 2010

  • United looked lacklustre against the Blues without Rooney in the side and Ancelotti believes Rooney's absence has turned the title momentum in Chelsea's favour.

    ESPNsoccernet soccernet.com 2010

  • Ancelotti believes Rooney's absence has turned the title momentum in Chelsea's favour.

    TEAMtalk Football News 2010

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