momentarily

From momentary +‎ -ly.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊməntəɹəli/, /məʊmənˈtɛɹəli/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

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^[1], →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.

   The system will restart momentarily.

   • 1880, Lew Wallace, 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.

3. Progressively; moment by moment.

Many speakers object to the use of 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, e.g. “we will be landing ”.^[3][1][2] In place of , many speakers prefer the terms presently, soon^[1][2] or the phrase “in a moment”,^[2] for this sense of “in a moment”.

• (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