MOMENTUM • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Momentum

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/moʊmˈɛntəm/ Listen

noun

Momentum n. (pl. L. momenta, F. momentums)

(Mech.) The quantity of motion in a moving body, being always proportioned to the quantity of matter multiplied by the velocity; impetus.

Essential element, or constituent element. "I shall state the several momenta of the distinction in separate propositions."

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; as, as, the petition drive gained momentum when it was mentioned in the newspapers.

See images of 'Momentum'

Etymology of 'Momentum'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Momentum" Quotes from Famous Books

... supplement GDP by more than 20%. Economic reforms, launched by the new democratic government in 1991, are aimed at developing the private sector and attracting foreign investment to diversify the economy. Prospects for 2002 depend heavily on the maintenance of aid flows, remittances, and the momentum ...

— The 2002 CIA World Factbook • US Government

... education. They do sufficiently well in classics, as they probably would on any other curriculum, to justify themselves and their advisers in thinking that they have made a good beginning to which it is safer to stick. The system has a huge momentum, and so, holding to the "great wheel" that goes up the hill, they let it draw them after. In their protest against the monotony of the courses provided for young boys the reformers are right. The ...

— Cambridge Essays on Education • Various

... let on as rapidly as possible, and the momentum gathering quickly, it was soon speeding over the prairie at a tremendous rate, straight ...

— The Huge Hunter - Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies • Edward S. Ellis

... came bounding madly to the edge of the precipice. Here they stopped short, and gazed affrighted at the gulf below. It was but for a moment. The irresistible momentum of the flying mass behind pushed them over. Down they came, absolutely a living cataract, upon the rocks below. Some struck on the projecting rocks in the descent, and their bodies were dashed almost in pieces, while their blood spurted out in showers. ...

— The Dog Crusoe and His Master - A Story of Adventure in the Western Prairies • Robert Michael Ballantyne

... drowned person. The drag moves over the bottom; the man who holds the rope, watching for the faintest sensation of resistance in the muscles of his arm, at last feels something drawing against the drag, calls to the oarsmen to stop rowing, lets the line slip through his fingers till the boat's momentum is a little spent, lest he should lose his hold, then he draws on his line gently, and while the boat drifts back, he reverently, as becomes one handling the dead, brings the drag to the surface, and finds that its hooks have brought up nothing but water-weeds, or a waterlogged bough. ...

— The Mystery of Metropolisville • Edward Eggleston

More quotes...