momentarily
American Heritage Dictionary:
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mo·men·tar·i·ly
(mō'mən-târ'ə-lē) 
adv.
adv.
- For a moment or an instant.
- Usage Problem. In a moment; very soon.
- Moment by moment; progressively.
USAGE NOTE Momentarily is widely used in speech to mean "in a moment," as in The manager is on another line, but she'll be with you momentarily. This usage rarely leads to ambiguity since the intended sense can usually be determined on the basis of the tense of the verb and the context. Nonetheless, many critics hold that the adverb should be reserved for the senses "for a moment," and the extended usage is unacceptable to 59 percent of the Usage Panel.
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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momentarily
means 'for a moment, briefly' in British English:
Ever the professional, Miss Turton flinched only momentarily and carried on with her report—Daily Mail, 2007.In American English it has this meaning and also the meaning 'at any moment, imminently':
Miss Loren had been delayed in traffic but would arrive momentarily—New Yorker, 1970.These features of usage are comparable to presently.
| moment, mogul, modus vivendi | |
| momently, momento, momentum |
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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momentarily
adv
Definition: for a very short time
Antonyms: lengthily, permanently
Translations:
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Momentarily
Dansk (Danish)
adv. - hvert øjeblik
Nederlands (Dutch)
kortstondig, tijdelijk, nu even
Français (French)
adv. - momentanément, dans un instant, d'un moment à l'autre
Deutsch (German)
adv. - jeden Augenblick, vorübergehend
Ελληνική (Greek)
adv. - στιγμιαία, για μια στιγμή, για λίγο, σύντομα
Italiano (Italian)
momentaneamente
Português (Portuguese)
adv. - momentaneamente
Русский (Russian)
на мгновение, ежеминутно, мгновенно, вскоре
Español (Spanish)
adv. - momentáneamente, de un momento a otro
Svenska (Swedish)
adv. - helt tillfälligt, ständigt, genast
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
暂时地, 随时地, 立刻
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adv. - 暫時地, 隨時地, 立刻
한국어 (Korean)
adv. - 잠시 동안, 시시각각으로, 곧
日本語 (Japanese)
adv. - ちょっとの間, 今か今かと, 時々刻々と
العربيه (Arabic)
(ظرف) لحظه بلحظه, كل لحظه, لحظه واحدة
עברית (Hebrew)
adv. - לרגע, מיידית, בכל רגע
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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