Our very last Idiom of the Week of the 2014-2015 school year:

Meaning: Used to describe something done suddenly in an emergency or very stressful situation.

Examples:

In the heat of the moment I said some words I shouldn’t have. I apologize.

He didn’t know why he started running away. He did it in the heat of the moment.

It’s difficult to think rationally in the heat of the moment.

Pop Quiz:

If someone says, “I’m sorry. I did it in the heat of the moment,” what are they trying to say?

A.  They didn’t think before they did it.

B.  They meant to do it.

C.  It was so hot they felt dizzy.

To see the correct answer, click on “Continue reading”:

The correct answer is A.  If you do something in the heat of the moment, you do it quickly without much thought, usually in some kind of crazy or stressful situation. If you had the wrong answer, it was probably because you weren’t thinking clearly in the heat of the moment.