The phrase 'merest instant' is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is used to indicate a very short period of time. For example, "She reacted almost instantly, but there was still a merest instant of hesitation."
A half century is a mere instant in the history of the earth, but a long time in human reckoning -- long enough for the levees and canals ordered in 1948 to destroy half the Everglades.
By the end of Leisure Sports Players Club, in what seemed like in a mere instant, a blink of an eye, the crowd doubled, the visuals morphed, and Mr. Carmack walked on the stage.
Crying, I found in my research, is just one of a menu of communication blunders that, in a mere instant, can suck the executive presence right out of you.
[I]n a mere instant, the girl was on her side and back, sliding headfirst toward the cliff edge as her father yelled her name, which [police sergeant Dave] Bavencoff later said sounded like "Anna".
Although the warming of the planet over the last few decades may seem like a slow progression, it's a mere instant in Earth's history, and the environmental changes we're causing far outstrip the ability of life to adapt.
The mere instant (because weapons have infinite velocity) the person gets into your sights, light 'em up!
Shot at a mansion in Ibiza, the Buddha statue scarcely figures at all, appearing in the corner of frames, out of focus, for mere instants (2 06 in the YouTube video).
But the burning of fossil fuels has caused a 41 percent increase in the heat-trapping gas since the Industrial Revolution, a mere geological instant, and scientists say the climate is beginning to react, though they expect far larger changes in the future.
His mere presence brings instant credibility.
The wait is a mere flicker of an instant in time compared to how long it took the dinosaurs to come back to earth, but then, when you've got a beloved franchise like "Jurassic Park," fans tend to get antsy.
