momentum

Definition

Of a body in motion: the tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity, or the vector sum of the products of its masses and velocities.

Etymology

From Latin mōmentum. Doublet of moment and movement.

Example Sentences

• "The travellers swarm forth from the cars. All are full of the momentum which they have caught from their mode of conveyance."
• "Their intention to become husband and wife, at first halting and timorous, had accumulated momentum with the lapse of hours, till it now bore down every obstacle in its course."
• "Though his account of written communication over the past 5,000 years necessarily has a powerful forward momentum, his diversions down the fascinating byways of the subject are irresistible ..."