momentum

[ moh-men-tuhm ]

noun

, plural mo·men·ta [moh-, men, -t, uh], mo·men·tums.

1. force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical object or course of events:

   The car gained momentum going downhill. Her career lost momentum after two unsuccessful films.

2. Also called linear momentum. Mechanics. a quantity expressing the motion of a body or system, equal to the product of the mass of a body and its velocity, and for a system equal to the vector sum of the products of mass and velocity of each particle in the system.
3. Philosophy. moment ( def 7 ).

momentum

/ məʊˈmɛntəm /

noun

1. physics the product of a body's mass and its velocity p See also angular momentum
2. the impetus of a body resulting from its motion
3. driving power or strength

momentum

/ mō-mĕn′təm /

, Plural momenta

1. A vector quantity that expresses the relation of the velocity of a body, wave, field, or other physical system, to its energy. The direction of the momentum of a single object indicates the direction of its motion. Momentum is a conserved quantity (it remains constant unless acted upon by an outside force), and is related by Noether's theorem to translational invariance . In classical mechanics, momentum is defined as mass times velocity. The theory of Special Relativity uses the concept of relativistic mass . The momentum of photons, which are massless, is equal to their energy divided by the speed of light. In quantum mechanics, momentum more generally refers to a mathematical operator applied to the wave equation describing a physical system and corresponding to an observable ; solutions to the equation using this operator provide the vector quantity traditionally called momentum. In all of these applications, momentum is sometimes called linear momentum.
2. See also angular momentum

momentum

1. In physics , the property or tendency of a moving object to continue moving. For an object moving in a line , the momentum is the mass of the object multiplied by its velocity (linear momentum); thus, a slowly moving, very massive body and a rapidly moving, light body can have the same momentum. ( See Newton's laws of motion .)

Notes

Figuratively, momentum can refer to the tendency of a person or group to repeat recent success: “The Bears definitely have momentum after scoring those last two touchdowns.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of momentum¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Latin mōmentum; moment

Word History and Origins

Origin of momentum¹

C17: from Latin: movement; see moment

Example Sentences

As much as we loved being able to rely on the sound being great every night, there’s a great momentum to being on the road.

From Los Angeles Times

Market analysts say the stock market's momentum following the 2024 election could continue, driven by steady economic growth, strong corporate earnings and expectations for further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

From Salon

Even more disappointing for the Rams, they had a couple of key offensive linemen back and were starting to feel as if they were gathering momentum.

From Los Angeles Times

Momentum grinding to a halt, the absurdities and indignities that unfolded before this point are all but forgotten, lost in a swirl of badly rendered pixels.

From Los Angeles Times

Though the GOP holds political momentum now, Silver predicts President-elect Trump, like Bush, will have a “challenging second term,” which will lead to a GOP loss in 2028.

From Salon

Related Words

• energy
• power
• strength