Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Occurring or completed without perceptible delay.
  • adjective Done or made as quickly or directly as possible.
  • adjective Present or occurring at a specific instant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Done or produced in an instant; occurring or acting without any perceptible lapse of time.
  • In mech., existing in or referring to an instant of time; momentary: as, instantaneous position, displacement, velocity, acceleration, etc. (that is, the position, etc., at any instant).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Done or occurring in an instant, or without any perceptible duration of time.
  • adjective At or during a given instant
  • adjective (Kinematics) in a plane or in a plane figure which has motions both of translation and of rotation in the plane, is the point which for the instant is at rest.
  • adjective (Kinematics) in a body which has motions both of translation and rotation, is a line, which is supposed to be rigidly united with the body, and which for the instant is at rest. The motion of the body is for the instant simply that of rotation about the instantaneous axis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Occurring, arising, or functioning without any delay; happening within an imperceptibly brief period of time.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective occurring with no delay

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Medieval Latin īnstantāneus, from Latin īnstāns, īnstant-, present; see instant.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

New Latin, 17th century

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Examples

  • Academic bloggers find that their community of readers often act as fact-checkers or engage the blogger in instantaneous debate over specific points before the book reaches the concretized state of print.

    If It Doesn’t Exist on the Internet, It Doesn’t Exist : Kenneth Goldsmith : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007

  • We desire to speak of those photographic apparatus called instantaneous shutters.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884 Various

  • Accordingly, Birchcliff encourages its shareholders to focus on quarterly average production rates and not short term instantaneous production numbers that are very high but not sustainable.

    Marketwire - Breaking News Releases 2010

  • Other than that, the overall evacuation of * three million* in instantaneous order was quite well done.]

    Fifth wheel in charge « BuzzMachine 2005

  • All the letters are written while the hearts of the writers must be supposed to be wholly engaged in their subjects (the events at the time generally dubious): so that they abound not only in critical situations, but with what may be called instantaneous descriptions and reflections (proper to be brought home to the breast of the youthful reader;) as also with affecting conversations; many of them written in the dialogue or dramatic way.

    Clarissa Harlowe 2006

  • You are attempting to leave heat capacity out of the discussion, nad arguig that temperature increases shoudl be instantaneous, which is absurd.

    NAS Panel Report « Climate Audit 2006

  • Now quantum physics has moved us to a more uncanny realization: that at some level this commonality extends to what can be described as an instantaneous mutual awareness among all particles, regardless of the distance of separation.

    THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD GERALD L. SCHROEDER 2001

  • Now quantum physics has moved us to a more uncanny realization: that at some level this commonality extends to what can be described as an instantaneous mutual awareness among all particles, regardless of the distance of separation.

    THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD GERALD L. SCHROEDER 2001

  • All other values which very continuously and, thus, are different at any time are called instantaneous values and are designated by u (or i).

    7. Alternating Current 1991

  • The so-called instantaneous or asymmetric short-circuit current involves high electrodynamic loads for the installation parts immediately on its occurence.

    4. Power transmission and distribution in power supply systems Frank Ponemunski 1991

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