English Idiom: In the heat of the moment

The idiom which is going to be discussed here in this post is: In the heat of the moment, so notice the following conversational example to know the meaning of this idiom:

Bill: I am so ashamed for what I told my wife yesterday.
William: What did you say?
Bill: I said the things which I have never thought about.
William:Why? What happened?
Bill: I told her that I will leave her forever.
William: Why you said that?
Bill: I said that because of these wrong things I heard about her, you know I was in the heat of the moment.
William: You can explain her all the details which made you to be so angry.

As you can see from the above example, while Bill have told his wife that he will leave her and he said this words based on some wrong information which he has heard. The wrong information made Bill to be so angry and nervous which made him to say this shameful word. Bill used the phrase “in the heat of the moment” which means the wrong information made him so angry and he told her a bad thing while he is so regretful for this words.

Idiom #248
In the heat of the moment
Meaning:
Overwhelmed by what is happening in the moment
During a peak moment, during the climax of a situation

To know more about this idiom let’s check the definition of this idiom in some great dictionaries:

In the heat of the moment :

Oxford:
While temporarily angry or excited and without stopping to think.

Cambridge:
If you say or do something in the heat of the moment, you say or do it without thinking because you are very angry or excited

Origin:

The origin of this idiom is not clear but based on some resources it has been used since 1900s. We found that if someone is doing or saying something in the heat of the moment, actually he / she is doing that without thinking, because of being angry or excited. In other words if someone is overly angry, excited, or eager, without pausing to consider the consequences of what is he / she going to do, he / she would be “in the heat of the moment”.

 The following meanings are understood based on the explanations of many dictionaries for this idiom:

• being overwhelmed by what is happening at the moment
• saying or doing something without thinking because of being angry or excited
• saying or doing something thoughtless as a response to the experience of the moment
• while being in a state of strong emotion or excitement

English Idiom: In the heat of the moment

Let’s take a look at some examples about this idiom to understand it better:

• I didn’t mean it – I told it just in the heat of the moment and I am really sorry for its consequences.
• They both said things in their struggle while none of them meant that in the heat of the moment.
• We must apologize for the rude things we said in the heat of the moment while we were discussing and we were in s very bad situation.
• He was so angry and called my dad in the heat of the moment which then he regret about that.
• He really didn’t want to tell you something to bother you by what he said about you. He said it just in the heat of the moment.
• He said that his comments were made in the heat of the moment and were not supposed to be a personal attack.
• He lost his mind in the heat of the moment and assaulted the other driver after the car accident.
• She had a big argument with her husband last night and in the heat of the moment, left him.
• They were shouting and jumping after the football match while they were in that heat of the moment.
• There was a sever physical clash between some parliamentary representatives in the heat of the debate moment for passing the new law of tax.

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