"Sputnik moment" meaning in English

See Sputnik moment in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈspʊtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈspʌtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈspʊtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/ [General-American], /ˈspʌtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-Sputnik moment.ogg Forms: Sputnik moments [plural]
Etymology: A reference to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 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. Head templates: {{en-noun|head=Sputnik moment}} Sputnik moment (plural Sputnik moments)
  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. Wikipedia link: Explorer 1, National Air and Space Museum, Sputnik 1 Synonyms: wake-up call
    Sense id: en-Sputnik_moment-en-noun-RHqV3thJ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 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.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Sputnik moments",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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    "Sput‧nik"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004 June 22, Rush Holt, Suggested Remarks for Rep. Rush Holt: Is American Security Being Lost in Translation?, National Language Conference, U.S. Department of Defence, archived from the original on 2008-12-27, page 4:",
          "text": "Immediately after September 11, 2001, Americans found themselves again facing a Sputnik moment. They realized that they were caught flat-footed, unprepared to confront Al Qaeda terrorists.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 May 25, Robert J. Samuelson, “Sputnik Scare, Updated”, in Washington Post:",
          "text": "Americans are having another Sputnik moment: one of those periodic alarms about some foreign technological and economic menace. It was the Soviets in the 1950s and early 1960s, the Germans and the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and now it's the Chinese and the Indians",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 January 5, Barack Obama, Jon Favreau, speechwriter, “Remarks by the President in State of Union Address”, in White House Office of the Press Secretary, WhiteHouse.gov, archived from the original on 2016-05-06:",
          "text": "Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 June 11, Claire Cain Miller, “Computer studies made cool, on film and now on campus”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2011-06-11:",
          "text": "\"It's a national call, a Sputnik moment,\" said Mehran Sahami, associate chairman for computer science education at Stanford, referring to the Soviet satellite launching in 1957 that pushed the United States into the space race.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-Sputnik_moment-en-noun-RHqV3thJ",
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        [
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        [
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        [
          "scientific",
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        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wake-up call"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Explorer 1",
        "National Air and Space Museum",
        "Sputnik 1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʊtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʌtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʊtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʌtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-Sputnik moment.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5a/En-au-Sputnik_moment.ogg/En-au-Sputnik_moment.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/En-au-Sputnik_moment.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Sputnik moment"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 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.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Sputnik moments",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "Sputnik moment"
      },
      "expansion": "Sputnik moment (plural Sputnik moments)",
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  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "Sput‧nik"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
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        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004 June 22, Rush Holt, Suggested Remarks for Rep. Rush Holt: Is American Security Being Lost in Translation?, National Language Conference, U.S. Department of Defence, archived from the original on 2008-12-27, page 4:",
          "text": "Immediately after September 11, 2001, Americans found themselves again facing a Sputnik moment. They realized that they were caught flat-footed, unprepared to confront Al Qaeda terrorists.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 May 25, Robert J. Samuelson, “Sputnik Scare, Updated”, in Washington Post:",
          "text": "Americans are having another Sputnik moment: one of those periodic alarms about some foreign technological and economic menace. It was the Soviets in the 1950s and early 1960s, the Germans and the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and now it's the Chinese and the Indians",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 January 5, Barack Obama, Jon Favreau, speechwriter, “Remarks by the President in State of Union Address”, in White House Office of the Press Secretary, WhiteHouse.gov, archived from the original on 2016-05-06:",
          "text": "Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 June 11, Claire Cain Miller, “Computer studies made cool, on film and now on campus”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2011-06-11:",
          "text": "\"It's a national call, a Sputnik moment,\" said Mehran Sahami, associate chairman for computer science education at Stanford, referring to the Soviet satellite launching in 1957 that pushed the United States into the space race.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "moment",
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          "country"
        ],
        [
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        [
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          "catch up"
        ],
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      "wikipedia": [
        "Explorer 1",
        "National Air and Space Museum",
        "Sputnik 1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʊtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʌtnɪk ˈməʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʊtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈspʌtnɪk ˈmoʊmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-Sputnik moment.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5a/En-au-Sputnik_moment.ogg/En-au-Sputnik_moment.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/En-au-Sputnik_moment.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "wake-up call"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Sputnik moment"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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