im·me·di·ate

(ĭ-mē′dē-ĭt)

adj.

1. Occurring at once; happening without delay: needed immediate treatment for the injuries.

a. Of or near the present time: in the immediate future.

b. 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).

3. Close at hand; near: in the immediate vicinity. See Synonyms at close.

4. Next in line or relation: is an immediate successor to the president of the company.

5. Acting or occurring without the interposition of another agency or object; direct: an immediate cause.

[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.]

im·me′di·ate·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	immediateness - the quickness of action or occurrence; "the immediacy of their response"; "the instancy of modern communication" instancy, instantaneousness, immediacy celerity, rapidity, rapidness, speediness, quickness - a rate that is rapid
	2.	immediateness - lack of an intervening or mediating agency; "the immediacy of television coverage" immediacy directness, straightness - trueness of course toward a goal; "rivaling a hawk in directness of aim"

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Also to be reckoned with, was the immediateness of his attack.

View in context

Our world has been animated by base desires and reactive immediateness for some time now.

Macron and the piranhas

It is the special mode of existence of the word as a hermeneutical formation, its human immediateness, which is highlighted here, as against, among other aspects, the alienating self-distancing of writing (Holy Scripture).

ON HORIZONTAL TRANSCENDENCE

Underlying this principle of immediateness, the court further exemplified its understanding and reasoned that the condition be in need of such attention that even a person of "ordinary sensibilities" would know that a physician should examine it.

Constitutional Law - Eleventh Circuit's Misdiagnosis: Inmates Benevolently Allowed to File Claims Under the Eighth Amendment Lacking Deliberate Indifference - Magwood v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr

The immediateness of photography sharing in social networks will also help sales of smartphones as imaging devices.

Now Available: Imaging Devices in Colombia

In the absence of other colors, these blue items are highlighted and stand out; they become extraordinarily eye-catching, and are charged with the intensity of an immediateness that is breathtaking.

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Same-sex relationships between women are a gratification in natural immediateness, being an interference of the undertakings required to improve the biased structures (Zaharia and Zaharia, 2015) that affect male and female relations.

Irigaray and the feminism of sexual difference