INSTANTS Synonyms: 27 Similar and Opposite Words

instants

noun

plural of instant

as in moments

a very small space of time it all happened in an instant

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of instants These days, the shows are bigger and the tickets sell out in instants, filling theaters around the country with concertgoers whose response to Geese’s music can best be described as rabid ecstasy. — Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 10 Sep. 2026 Recent instants, according to the company, will be saved in an archive that's private and only accessible to the user who takes it. — Kelly McCarthy, ABC News, 13 May 2026 Elle has become a collector of sounds, wandering the city with a pocket recorder in hand, creating what are, in effect, sonic images of instants stretched out into time. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for instants

Noun

But moments before the nosedive, passengers seated near the front of the plane heard sounds of a fight inside the cockpit, said passenger Daniel Schlichter, who was seated in the second row.

— SAM MEDNICK, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
Those moments in people’s careers are the beginning of feeling truly confident about yourself.

— Hilary Lewis, HollywoodReporter, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of moments

Noun

Those games became the first in Summer Olympic history to publish invaluable epidemiologic data such as diagnoses, core temperatures, and minutes-to-cool, which continue to inform Olympic planning.

— Vibhu Krishna, STAT, 2 Oct. 2026
The handful of Israeli passengers grappled with the copilot for several minutes before subduing him and binding his hands with the cord from a set of headphones.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of minutes

Noun

Body-camera video shows Duran firing seconds after Fortson opened the door holding a handgun pointed down; the disturbance report that sent the deputy there was false.

— Corey Williams, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026
That machine set a global benchmark in January 2025 by holding plasma heated to 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) for 1,066 seconds.

— Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of seconds

Noun

Others include Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s light and sound installation Pulse Topology (2021), installed in 2023, in which visitors’ heartbeats inform the pulse of lights hanging overhead.

— Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Simpson was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, a rare heart condition that can cause irregular heartbeats and sudden cardiac death in seemingly healthy individuals, per John Hopkins Medicine.

— Raven Brunner, PEOPLE, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of heartbeats

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instantly

instants

instate

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“Instants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/instants. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of instants

noun

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