Words / C1

m-uh-MENT-uh-m/məˈmentəm/

Momentum is the force a process gains as it keeps moving: lose momentum, political momentum. Speed is everyday and thinner; impetus is a cousin; inertia is the opposite family. Do not treat a viral thread as momentum that replaces a legal review.

Meaning

The force that a process gains as it continues to move or grow.

Examples

• “Momentum in the petition did not replace a legal review.”
• “Speed is everyday. Growth can be the everyday twin in numbers. In physics, mass times velocity. A spike of emails can fade. Force of habit is not momentum.”

Good to know

Forward force that builds. Everyday: speed / growth. Opposite family: inertia. Noise in the inbox ≠ a completed review.

Near in meaning

force

New