at any moment
58
2.1
- idiom
:
en cualquier momento
- The American ambassador is waiting to hear from Franklin Roosevelt at any moment.
- fall at any moment
So John Hoffman can be fired at any moment by Chris Christie.
- So John Hoffman can be fired at any moment by Chris Christie.
- Who is the king who at any moment is about to burst into the room?
- Life is precious and at any moment, right, it can go or you're here.
- I can find the closest one at any moment in any state in any country.
- Life is short and can end at any moment.
- We are perceiving way, way more at any moment than we can possibly conceptualize.
- This way you can choose at any moment.
- And that means in his mind he's ready to work at any moment.
- It's as opposed to like what the hell this thing ends at any moment.
- They can FaceTime with us at any moment.
- However, the signs this morning would certainly point to an invasion at any moment.
- But all of these are assets which can be finished and destroyed at any moment.
- If you're listening to this, maybe the first words I can say is at any moment life can end.
Examples
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His heart could stop at any moment.
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I was told to be ready for a phone call that could come at any moment.
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Well, it could end at any moment as we talked about.
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The situation could change at any moment.
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We could be taken at any moment.
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But like I said, Eve could walk through the door at any moment.
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It's the kind of smile that could turn to tears at any moment.
Fiction book (1995) -
But for all I knew, it might sink at any moment.
Fiction book (1991) -
He should be back at any moment.
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They expect it to collapse at any moment.
Synonyms
54
1.7
After a very short time
12
1.6
Likely to happen at any moment
6
4.8
Happens very soon, at any moment
Happens at any moment
Antonyms
How Soon
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'at' (indicating time/place), 'any' (non-specific), and 'moment' (a very short point in time) — together they naturally convey ‘at any point in time, possibly very soon’. This temporal-compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'en cualquier momento', French 'à tout moment'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
At any moment paints a simple picture: you watch a clock or a door, ready because the next moment could come at any time and something might happen without warning. So, it means 'very soon' or 'at any time', often when the exact time is not known.