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Webster 1913 Edition


Momentous

Mo-men′tous

,
Adj.
[Cf. L.
momentosus
rapid, momentary.]
Of moment or consequence; very important; weighty;
as, a
momentous
decision;
momentous
affairs.
Mo-men′tous-ly
,
adv.
Mo-men′tous-ness
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition


Momentous

MOMENT'OUS

,
Adj.
Important; weighty; of consequence. Let no false step be made in the momentous concerns of the soul.

Definition 2024


momentous

momentous

English

Adjective

momentous (comparative more momentous, superlative most momentous)

  1. Outstanding in importance, of great consequence.
    • 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:
      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.
    • 1831, James Fenimore Cooper, Homeward Bound, ch. 31:
      "It has been a momentous month, and I hope we shall all retain healthful recollections of it as long as we live."
    • 1902, Joseph Conrad, The End of the Tether, ch. 3:
      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.
    • 2007 July 1, Richard Dawkins, "Inferior Design," New York Times (retrieved 19 Nov 2013):
      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.

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