Momentary means lasting for only a very brief time, just a moment. When you feel a momentary flash of pain after stubbing your toe, it hurts sharply but passes quickly. When a teacher experiences a momentary confusion about which page the class is on, she figures it out within seconds.

The word emphasizes how short-lived something is. A momentary distraction might make you miss one sentence your friend said, but then your attention snaps right back. A momentary power outage flickers the lights off and immediately back on. Think of it as the opposite of lasting or permanent.

You might experience momentary doubt before giving a presentation, a quick flutter of nervousness that disappears once you start speaking. Athletes often push through momentary discomfort during training, knowing the burning feeling in their muscles will fade. The word captures those fleeting experiences that arrive suddenly and vanish just as fast, like a hiccup, a camera flash, or that split second of silence before everyone starts clapping.