Other forms: instants
An instant is a point of time so short it has no length worth measuring. The instant a traffic light turns green, the instant before a glass hits the floor — over before you can name it.
As an adjective, instant means happening at once: instant relief, instant access, an instant hit. It also describes food and drink that need only hot water, which is where most learners meet it first — instant coffee, instant noodles, instant soup. "In an instant" means immediately, and "the instant" works as a joining word meaning as soon as: call me the instant you land. Instantly is the adverb and instantaneous the technical adjective, for speeds, reactions and measurements. A moment is loose and human; an instant is sharper and shorter.
1nouninstantAn extremely short point in time.
“For an instant she thought the house was empty.”
synonyms: moment, second, split second
2adjectiveimmediateHappening immediately.
“The new rules brought instant complaints from every department.”
synonyms: immediate, instantaneous
3adjectivefoodOf food or drink: made ready by adding hot water.
“He lived on instant noodles for the whole first term.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
instant is a moment in time.
Also accepted in games: moment, split second
Latin instans meant standing near, pressing, urgent — the present participle of īnstō, "to stand upon, be nearby", built from in and stō, "to stand". An instant is time standing right beside you, close enough to touch. Middle English took the word from Old French already carrying the sense of an infinitely short stretch of time.
Proto-Indo-European
*steh₂-
Latin
īnstāns — present, pressing, urgent
Old French
instant — assiduous, at hand
Middle English
instant — infinitely short period of time
English, today
instant
Built from
From Middle English instant (“infinitely short period of time”), from Old French instant (“assiduous, at hand”), from Latin īnstāns (“present, pressing, urgent”). From Middle English instant (“infinitely short period of time”), from Old French instant (“assiduous, at hand”), from Latin instans (“present, pressing, urgent”) literally “standing near”, present active participle of īnstō (“to stand upon, be nearby”), from in + stō. Compare Old English instede (“immediately, on the spot, at once”). More at in, stand.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA