MOMENTARY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does momentary mean? 

• MOMENTARY (adjective)
  The adjective MOMENTARY has 1 sense:

1. lasting for a markedly brief time

  Familiarity information: MOMENTARY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOMENTARY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lasting for a markedly brief time

Synonyms:

fleeting; fugitive; momentaneous; momentary

Context example:

a momentary glimpse

Similar:

short (primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration)

Derivation:

moment (an indefinitely short time)

 Context examples 

William's desire of seeing Fanny dance made more than a momentary impression on his uncle.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“And what are you reading, Miss—?” “Oh! It is only a novel!” replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Then came a momentary fear, when he yelped several times to the impact of the hand.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He gave her a momentary glance, a glance of brightness, which seemed to say, "That man is struck with you, and even I, at this moment, see something like Anne Elliot again."

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle, again obtaining that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Its disappearance, however, was but momentary.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But this, from the momentary perverseness of impatient suffering, she at first refused to do.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

But his fear was only momentary; and though he did not look the lawyer in the face, he answered coolly enough: “That is my name. What do you want?”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A device that experienced problems due to sudden and momentary bursts of electrical current flowing between 2 objects at different electrical potentials.

(Device Electrostatic Discharge Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Emma felt that Mrs. Weston was giving her a momentary glance; and she was herself struck by his warmth.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)