Phrase guide

Sputnik moment

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspʊtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspʌtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/
  • General-American: /ˈspʊtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/
  • General-American: /ˈspʌtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The moment when a country or a society realizes that it needs to catch up with apparent technological and scientific developments made by some other country or countries by increasing its investment into education, innovative research and development, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

A reference to the Soviet Union's launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 which caught the US unprepared. The event ignited the Space Race during the Cold War, and led to the US successfully launching Explorer 1 into space in 1958.