Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Occurring at once; instant: gave me an immediate response.
- adj. Of or near the present time: in the immediate future.
- adj. Of or relating to the present time and place; current: "It is probable that, apart from the most immediate, pragmatic, technical revisions, the writer's effort to detach himself from his work is quixotic” ( Joyce Carol Oates).
- adj. Close at hand; near: in the immediate vicinity. See Synonyms at close.
- adj. Next in line or relation: is an immediate successor to the president of the company.
- adj. Directly apprehended or perceived: had immediate awareness of the scope of the crisis.
- adj. Acting or occurring without the interposition of another agency or object; direct.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not separated from its object or correlate by any third or medium; directly related; independent of any intermediate agency or action: opposed to remote: as, an immediate cause.
- Having no space or object intervening; nearest; proximate; having the closest relation: as, immediate contact; the immediate neighborhood.
- Without any time intervening; without any delay; present; instant: often used, like similar absolute expressions, with less strictness than the literal meaning requires: as, an immediate answer; immediate despatch.
- In metaphysics, indemonstrable; intuitive; of the character of a direct perception not worked over by the mind. Immediate truths are of two kinds, those which are the direct testimony of the senses, and general axioms: the existence of both kinds is in question.
- Knowledge of an object as it exists, so that the qualities of our cognition are the qualities of the thing-in-itself.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not separated in respect to place by anything intervening; proximate; close.
- adj. Not deferred by an interval of time; present; instant.
- adj. Acting with nothing interposed or between, or without the intervention of another object as a cause, means, or agency; acting, perceived, or produced, directly.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and effect
- adj. performed with little or no delay
- adj. of the present time and place
- adj. having no intervening medium
- adj. very close or connected in space or time
Etymologies
- Middle English immediat, from Old French, from Late Latin immediātus : Latin in-, not; see in-1 + Latin mediātus, past participle of mediāre, to be in the middle; see mediate.
Examples
“And this is a question which demands immediate attention -- _immediate_ attention; for more than £26,000,000 are paid by taxpayers each year to be spent in great part on our wretched system of poor laws.”
“Idealists discredit the veracity of consciousness as to our immediate knowledge of material phenomena, and, consequently, our _immediate knowledge of the existence of matter_. [”
“The term immediate is used in contrast with that of gradual.”
“They include what he called immediate cuts to the costs of maintaining Italy's bulky political class as well as significant measures to fight tax evasion.”
“Around the February time frame, we were running to a point where our fund balance was getting below what we were comfortable with, having to deal with existing disasters and future disasters, so we go into what we call immediate needs funding.”
“An "immediate" withdrawal, a la Obama, is totally unrealistic and would result in immediate genocide of those Iraquis who have helped and supported our troops.”
Gates: Next president likely to take 'sensible approach' to Iraq
“He was later led out of the courtroom and placed in immediate custody.”
“But my husband has once, to each of the girls, because they put themselves or their sibling in immediate risk.”
“The contentment of Fernando Torres and promised transfer sprees deliver headlines that win immediate support for prospective new owners, but it is how quickly they construct a solution to a 40-year-old problem will determine Liverpool's long-term fortunes.”
The Guardian: Liverpool's new owners face a familiar stadium dilemma at Anfield
“The Saudis in immediate wake of September 11″ doctrine?”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Defamation by Government Still Political Question
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