Adjacent Words

Immediate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IMME'DIATE, a. [L. in and medius, middle.]
1. Proximate; acting without a medium, or without the intervention of another cause or means; producing its effect by its own direct agency. An immediate cause is that which is exerted directly in producing its effect, in opposition to a mediate cause, or one more remote.
2. Not acting by second causes; as the immediate will of God.
3. Instant; present; without the intervention of time. We must have an immediate supply of bread.
Immediate are my needs--
Death--inflicted--by an immediate stroke.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of the present time and place; "the immediate revisions"
2: very close or connected in space or time; "contiguous events"; "immediate contact"; "the immediate vicinity"; "the immediate past" [syn: contiguous, immediate]
3: having no intervening medium; "an immediate influence" [ant: mediate]
4: immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and effect; "the immediate result"; "the immediate cause of the trouble"
5: performed with little or no delay; "an immediate reply to my letter"; "a prompt reply"; "was quick to respond"; "a straightaway denial" [syn: immediate, prompt, quick, straightaway]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English immediat, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin immediatus, from Latin in- + Late Latin mediatus intermediate — more at mediate Date: 15th century 1. a. acting or being without the intervention of another object, cause, or agency ; direct <the immediate cause of death> b. present to the mind independently of other states or factors <immediate awareness> c. involving or derived from a single premise <an immediate inference> 2. being next in line or relation <the immediate family> 3. a. existing without intervening space or substance <brought into immediate contact> b. being near at hand <the immediate neighborhood> 4. a. occurring, acting, or accomplished without loss or interval of time ; instant <an immediate need> b. (1) near to or related to the present <the immediate past> (2) of or relating to the here and now ; current <too busy with immediate concerns to worry about the future> 5. directly touching or concerning a person or thing <the child's immediate world is the classroom>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 occurring or done at once or without delay (an immediate reply). 2 nearest, next; not separated by others (the immediate vicinity; the immediate future; my immediate neighbour). 3 most pressing or urgent (our immediate concern was to get him to hospital). 4 (of a relation or action) having direct effect; without an intervening medium or agency (the immediate cause of death). 5 (of knowledge) intuitive, gained without reasoning. Derivatives: immediacy n. immediateness n. Etymology: ME f. F immédiat or LL immediatus (as IN-(1), MEDIATE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Immediate Im*me"di*ate, a. [F. imm['e]diat. See In- not, and Mediate.] 1. Not separated in respect to place by anything intervening; proximate; close; as, immediate contact. You are the most immediate to our throne. --Shak. 2. Not deferred by an interval of time; present; instant. ``Assemble we immediate council.'' --Shak. Death . . . not yet inflicted, as he feared, By some immediate stroke. --Milton. 3. Acting with nothing interposed or between, or without the intervention of another object as a cause, means, or agency; acting, perceived, or produced, directly; as, an immediate cause. The immediate knowledge of the past is therefore impossible. --Sir. W. Hamilton. Immediate amputation (Surg.), an amputation performed within the first few hours after an injury, and before the the effects of the shock have passed away. Syn: Proximate; close; direct; next.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. An immediate result, action, or reaction happens or is done without any delay. These tragic incidents have had an immediate effect... My immediate reaction was just disgust. = instant ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. Immediate needs and concerns exist at the present time and must be dealt with quickly. Relief agencies say the immediate problem is not a lack of food, but transportation. = pressing ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. The immediate person or thing comes just before or just after another person or thing in a sequence. His immediate superior, General Geichenko, had singled him out for special mention. ADJ: ADJ n 4. You use immediate to describe an area or position that is next to or very near a particular place or person. Only a handful had returned to work in the immediate vicinity... ADJ: ADJ n 5. Your immediate family are the members of your family who are most closely related to you, for example your parents, children, brothers, and sisters. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Proximate, close, near, next. 2. Direct, without other agency, unmediated. 3. Instantaneous, instant, present.

Moby Thesaurus

about to be, abrupt, accessible, actual, adjacent, adjoining, alert, already in sight, approaching, apt, articulated, as is, at hand, attendant, automatic, available, being, bordering, brewing, catenated, ceaseless, close, close at hand, closest, coming, concatenated, connected, connecting, constant, contemporaneous, contemporary, conterminous, contiguous, continual, continued, continuing, continuous, coterminous, current, cursory, cyclical, decisive, direct, end to end, endless, endways, endwise, existent, existing, expeditious, extant, face to face, featureless, festinate, feverish, firsthand, flying, forthcoming, fresh, furious, future, gapless, gathering, going to happen, hair-trigger, hasty, hurried, immanent, imminent, impendent, impending, in danger imminent, in prospect, in reserve, in store, in the cards, in the offing, in the wind, in view, incessant, indwelling, inherent, instant, instantaneous, instinctive, interminable, irreversible, joined, jointless, juxtaposed, juxtapositional, juxtapositive, last-minute, latest, lightning-like, linked, looming, lowering, lurking, menacing, modern, momentaneous, momentary, monotonous, near, near at hand, nearby, nearest, nearing, nearmost, neighbor, neighboring, never-ending, new, next, nigh, nighest, nonstop, on board, on deck, on hand, on the horizon, on the spot, one-way, overhanging, passing, perennial, periodic, preparing, present, present-age, present-day, present-time, pressing, presto, primary, prompt, proximate, punctual, quick, quick as lightning, quick as thought, ready, recurrent, reflex, repetitive, round-the-clock, running, seamless, serried, slap-bang, slapdash, smooth, snap, speedy, spontaneous, stable, steady, straight, straightaway, straightforward, straightway, sudden, summary, superficial, swift, that be, that is, that will be, threatening, to come, topical, twenty-four-hour, unbroken, unceasing, undeviating, undifferentiated, unending, unhesitating, unidirectional, uniform, unintermitted, unintermittent, unintermitting, uninterrupted, unrelieved, unremitting, unstopped, unswerving, unthinking, up-to-date, up-to-the-minute, upcoming, urgent, waiting, within call, within reach, within sight