IMMEDIATE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does immediate mean? 

• IMMEDIATE (adjective)
  The adjective IMMEDIATE has 5 senses:

1. of the present time and place

2. very close or connected in space or time

3. having no intervening medium

4. immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and effect

5. performed with little or no delay

  Familiarity information: IMMEDIATE used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMMEDIATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of the present time and place

Context example:

the immediate revisions

Similar:

present (temporal sense; intermediate between past and future; now existing or happening or in consideration)

Derivation:

immediateness (the quickness of action or occurrence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Very close or connected in space or time

Synonyms:

contiguous; immediate

Context example:

the immediate past

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 3

Meaning:

Having no intervening medium

Context example:

an immediate influence

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 4

Meaning:

Immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and effect

Context example:

the immediate cause of the trouble

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:

Performed with little or no delay

Synonyms:

immediate; prompt; quick; straightaway

Context example:

a straightaway denial

Similar:

fast (acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly)

Derivation:

immediateness (the quickness of action or occurrence)

 Context examples 

In medicine, a treatment plan that gives immediate rewards for desired changes in behavior.

(Contingency management, NCI Dictionary)

Fanny's immediate concerns, as far as they involved Mr. Crawford, made no part of their conversation.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

His whole concern was with the immediate, objective present.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

You may or may not see immediate changes in March through June (depending on your natal chart), so this may happen in a stronger way in 2021.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I think that just at present I can be of more immediate use here.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But “No, no, no!” was the immediate answer; “that could not be, for Thorpe did not know that he might not go to town on Tuesday.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

An activity defined at a global library level that is an action whose immediate and primary intention is the alteration of the physical condition of the study subject or experimental unit.

(Defined Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)

The rest had been the work of the moment, the immediate effect of what he heard, on his feelings.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In an immediate way it personified his life.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The minimally invasive SPG block takes almost immediate effect with relief potentially lasting for months, researchers said.

(Innovative Treatment Offers Relief to Children with Frequent Migraine Headaches, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)