Word.ws English Dictionary

by the moment

by the moment prepositional phrase: very quickly as time passes; progressively.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Very quickly as time passes; progressively.
    • But this war was being thrust on us, and our situation was becoming more dangerous by the moment.2002, Ariel Sharon, David Chanoff, Warrior: An Autobiography, page 184
    • He's getting crazier by the moment.2009, Chuck Hughes, The Wedjat, page 215
  2. (idiomatic) Focused on the present moment; in the present.
    • They do not live by the moment; they do not make soul and body conform to God's time, which is the present moment.1875 November, J. E. M., “Living By the Moment”, in The Advocate of Christian Holiness, volume 6, number 5, page 105
    • I gauged my understanding by comparing the expressions which registered on people's faces with what was occurring by the moment in my own inner reactions to the talk.2009, Muhyiddin Shakoor, The Writing On The Water

Questions about by the moment

What does by the moment mean?
By the moment means very quickly as time passes; progressively.
What part of speech is by the moment?
By the moment is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by the moment in the dictionary

  1. by the laws
  2. by the lay
  3. by the living jingo
  4. by the looks of things
  5. by the minute
  6. by the moment
  7. by the name of
  8. by the numbers
  9. by the piece
  10. by the rood
  11. by the same token

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by the moment (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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