Idiom
moment of truth
Meaning
A deciding instant; the time when a test determines or makes it apparent whether something will succeed.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“This is the moment of truth for my driving test.”
“The moment of truth arrives when you open your final exam results.”
“The team waited in silence as the judge prepared to announce the winner, knowing this was the moment of truth.”
“I carefully placed the cake in the oven and realized the moment of truth would come when I tried to take it out of the pan.”
“We spent all morning fixing the old engine, and now we face the moment of truth as I turn the key to start the car.”
“After months of rigorous preparation and tireless effort, the scientist stood before the data, fully aware that this was the moment of truth for her entire career.”
Examples
simple
“This is the moment of truth for my driving test.”
“The moment of truth arrives when you open your final exam results.”
contextual
“The team waited in silence as the judge prepared to announce the winner, knowing this was the moment of truth.”
“I carefully placed the cake in the oven and realized the moment of truth would come when I tried to take it out of the pan.”
“We spent all morning fixing the old engine, and now we face the moment of truth as I turn the key to start the car.”
complex
“After months of rigorous preparation and tireless effort, the scientist stood before the data, fully aware that this was the moment of truth for her entire career.”
Origin
A calque of the Spanish *momento de la verdad*, the expression originates in the ritual of the bullfight. It denotes the precise instant of the final sword thrust, a juncture where the encounter is resolved with a single, terminal gesture. The phrase entered English as a direct translation of the Spanish term.
Key words
Related idioms
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