| / English Dictionary |
IMMEDIATE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Very close or connected in space or time
Example:
the immediate past
Synonyms:
contiguous; immediate
Classified under:
Similar:
close (at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other)
Derivation:
immediateness (lack of an intervening or mediating agency)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having no intervening medium
Example:
an immediate influence
Classified under:
Similar:
direct; unmediated (having no intervening persons, agents, conditions)
Attribute:
immediacy; immediateness (lack of an intervening or mediating agency)
Antonym:
mediate (acting through or dependent on an intervening agency)
Derivation:
immediateness (lack of an intervening or mediating agency)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Performed with little or no delay
Example:
a straightaway denial
Synonyms:
immediate; prompt; quick; straightaway
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
fast (acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly)
Derivation:
immediateness (the quickness of action or occurrence)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and effect
Example:
the immediate cause of the trouble
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
proximate (closest in degree or order (space or time) especially in a chain of causes and effects)
Derivation:
immediateness (the quickness of action or occurrence)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of the present time and place
Example:
the immediate revisions
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
present (temporal sense; intermediate between past and future; now existing or happening or in consideration)
Derivation:
immediateness (the quickness of action or occurrence)
Context examples:
It is probable, therefore, that the crime was either committed when insane, or that its immediate effect was to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You should get immediate medical attention and may need surgery.
(Adhesions, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
For once White Fang did not make an immediate attack.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Obviously, the response is immediate; and despite the increased secretion of insulin, the amount of oxygen consumed by the cells does not change significantly as our study shows.
(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
This research presents experimental evidence for a strategy where the targeting of cancer cells and the stimulation of immunity combine to prompt immediate and long-term responses against aggressive cancer.
(Molecule in Immune System Able to Trigger 'Suicide' of Cancerous Tumors, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Fortunately, light pollution can be controlled by shielding lights to limit shine to the immediate area, reducing lighting to the minimum amount needed — or by simply turning them off.
(Milky Way now hidden from a third of humanity, NOAA)
While methane and carbon dioxide emissions following thaw lead to immediate radiative warming, carbon uptake in peat-rich sediments occurs over millennial time scales.
(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)
Supermassive black holes, with their immense gravitational pull, are notoriously good at clearing out their immediate surroundings by eating nearby objects.
(Studies Find Echoes of Black Holes Eating Stars, NASA)
In or of the immediately surrounding area; relating to the immediate surroundings of something.
(Ambient, NCI Thesaurus)
The solution of this problem is our immediate duty.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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