[syn: immediate, prompt, quick, straightaway]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Immediate \Im*me"di*ate\, a. [F. imm['e]diat. See In- not, and
Mediate.]
1. Not separated in respect to place by anything intervening;
proximate; close; as, immediate contact.
[1913 Webster]
You are the most immediate to our throne. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Not deferred by an interval of time; present; instant.
"Assemble we immediate council." --Shak.
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Death . . . not yet inflicted, as he feared,
By some immediate stroke. --Milton.
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3. Acting with nothing interposed or between, or without the
intervention of another object as a cause, means, or
agency; acting, perceived, or produced, directly; as, an
immediate cause.
[1913 Webster]
The immediate knowledge of the past is therefore
impossible. --Sir. W.
Hamilton.
[1913 Webster]
Immediate amputation (Surg.), an amputation performed
within the first few hours after an injury, and before the
the effects of the shock have passed away.
Syn: Proximate; close; direct; next.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
immediate
adj 1: of the present time and place; "the immediate revisions"
2: very close or connected in space or time; "contiguous
events"; "immediate contact"; "the immediate vicinity"; "the
immediate past" [syn: contiguous, immediate]
3: having no intervening medium; "an immediate influence" [ant:
mediate]
4: immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and
effect; "the immediate result"; "the immediate cause of the
trouble"
5: performed with little or no delay; "an immediate reply to my
letter"; "a prompt reply"; "was quick to respond"; "a
straightaway denial" [syn: immediate, prompt, quick,
straightaway]