Adjacent Words

Instant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IN'STANT, a. [L. instans, insto.]
1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest.
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Romans 12.
2. Immediate; without intervening time; present.
Impending death is thine and instant doom.
3. Quick; making no delay.
Instant he flew with hospitable haste.
4. Present; current. On the tenth of July instant.
IN'STANT, n. A point in duration; a moment; a part of duration in which we perceive no succession, or a part that occupies the time of a single thought.
1. A particular time.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: occurring with no delay; "relief was instantaneous"; "instant gratification" [syn: instantaneous, instant]
2: in or of the present month; "your letter of the 10th inst" [syn: instant, inst]
3: demanding attention; "clamant needs"; "a crying need"; "regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"- H.L.Mencken; "insistent hunger"; "an instant need" [syn: clamant, crying, exigent, insistent, instant] n
1: a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash" [syn: blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, New York minute]
2: a particular point in time; "the moment he arrived the party began" [syn: moment, minute, second, instant]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin instant-, instans, from instant-, instans, adjective, instant, from Latin Date: 14th century 1. an infinitesimal space of time; especially a point in time separating two states <at the instant of death> 2. the present or current month II. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin instant-, instans, from present participle of instare to stand upon, urge, from in- + stare to stand — more at stand Date: 15th century 1. importunate, urgent 2. a. present, current <previous felonies not related to the instant crime> b. of or occurring in the present month — abbreviation inst 3. immediate, direct <the play was an instant success> 4. a. (1) premixed or precooked for easy final preparation <instant pudding> (2) appearing in or as if in ready-to-use form <instant poetry> b. immediately soluble in water <instant coffee> 5. produced or occurring with or as if with extreme rapidity and ease • instantness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 occurring immediately (gives an instant result). 2 a (of food etc.) ready for immediate use, with little or no preparation. b prepared hastily and with little effort (I have no instant solution). 3 urgent; pressing. 4 Commerce of the current month (the 6th instant). 5 archaic of the present moment. --n. 1 a precise moment of time, esp. the present (come here this instant; went that instant; told you the instant I heard). 2 a short space of time (was there in an instant; not an instant too soon). Phrases and idioms: instant replay the immediate repetition of part of a filmed sports event, often in slow motion. Etymology: ME f. F f. L instare instant- be present, press upon (as IN-(2), stare stand)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Instant In"stant, adv. Instantly. [Poetic] Instant he flew with hospitable haste. --Pope.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Instant In"stant, n. [F. instant, fr. L. instans standing by, being near, present. See Instant, a.] 1. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment. There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being. --Hooker. 2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3. Syn: Moment; flash; second.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Instant In"stant, a. [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. in?tant. See Stand.] 1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. --Rom. xii. 12. I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. --Carlyle. 2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. --Prior. 3. Present; current. The instant time is always the fittest time. --Fuller. Note: The word in this sense is now used only in dates, to indicate the current month; as, the tenth of July instant.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(instants) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. An instant is an extremely short period of time. For an instant, Catherine was tempted to flee... The pain disappeared in an instant. = moment N-COUNT: usu sing 2. If you say that something happens at a particular instant, you mean that it happens at exactly the time you have been referring to, and you are usually suggesting that it happens quickly or immediately. At that instant the museum was plunged into total darkness... = moment N-SING: with supp, usu at/in N 3. To do something the instant something else happens means to do it immediately. I had bolted the door the instant I had seen the bat. PHRASE [emphasis] 4. You use instant to describe something that happens immediately. He had taken an instant dislike to Mortlake. = immediate ADJ: usu ADJ n • instantly The man was killed instantly... ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj 5. Instant food is food that you can prepare very quickly, for example by just adding water. ...instant coffee. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Pressing, urgent, importunate, earnest. 2. Immediate, quick, instantaneous. 3. Current, present, now passing. II. n. 1. Moment, second, twinkling, flash, trice, jiffy, twinkling of an eye, smallest conceivable point of time. 2. Time, particular time, hour, moment.

Moby Thesaurus

a breath, about to be, actual, acute, alert, already in sight, approaching, apt, as is, at hand, being, bit, breath, breathing, brewing, burning, clamant, clamorous, close, close at hand, coming, compelling, contemporaneous, contemporary, coup, crack, critical, crucial, crying, current, cursory, day, decisive, demanding, dire, direct, draining, earnest, exacting, exigent, existent, existing, exorbitant, expeditious, extant, extortionate, fateful moment, festinate, feverish, flash, flying, forthcoming, fresh, furious, future, gathering, going to happen, grasping, hair-trigger, half a jiffy, half a mo, half a second, half a shake, hasty, high-pressure, high-priority, hour, hurried, immanent, immediate, imminent, impendent, impending, imperative, imperious, importunate, in danger imminent, in prospect, in reserve, in store, in the cards, in the offing, in the wind, in view, insistent, instantaneous, interval, jiff, jiffy, juncture, kairos, last-minute, latest, lightning-like, little, little bit, little while, looming, loud, lowering, lurking, menacing, microsecond, millisecond, minute, modern, moment, moment of truth, momentaneous, momentary, near, near at hand, nearing, new, no time, on the horizon, on the spot, overhanging, overnight, pair of winks, passing, period, persistent, pertinacious, pivotal, point, pregnant moment, prepared, preparing, present, present-age, present-day, present-time, pressing, presto, prompt, psychological moment, punctual, quick, quick as lightning, quick as thought, ready, ready-made, ready-mixed, running, season, sec, second, shake, short spell, short time, slap-bang, slapdash, small space, snap, space, span, speedy, spell, split second, spurt, stage, stretch, stroke, summary, superficial, swift, taxing, that be, that is, that will be, threatening, tick, time, time lag, to come, topical, trice, twink, twinkle, twinkling, twitch, two shakes, up-to-date, up-to-the-minute, upcoming, urgent, waiting, while, wink