the.com/moment of truth
The second the plan meets reality and stops being a theory.
means The critical point where something is finally tested, revealed, or decided, with no more room to hide.
from Comes from the Spanish 'el momento de la verdad', the term for the final sword-thrust in a bullfight, when the matador faces the moment where skill, luck, and consequence collide. The phrase moved into English translation in the twentieth century and quickly outgrew the bullring, becoming the go-to phrase for any high-stakes instant of reckoning.
- origin
- Bullfighting term for the final sword thrust
- spanish root
- El momento de la verdad, coined by Hemingway's translation
- irony
- Often lasts longer than a second, despite the name
- business use
- Popularized by a 1980s airline CEO's memoir