3 definitions found From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]: Immediate \Im*me"di*ate\, adjective [F. imm['e]diat. See {In-} not, and {Mediate}.] 1. Not separated in respect to place by anything intervening; proximate; close; as, immediate contact. You are the most immediate to our throne. --Shak. 2. Not deferred by an interval of time; present; instant. ''Assemble we immediate council.'' --Shak. Death . . . not yet inflicted, as he feared, By some immediate stroke. --Milton. 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. The immediate knowledge of the past is therefore impossible. --Sir. W. Hamilton. {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. From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]: immediate adjective 1: very close or connected in space or time; "contiguous events"; "immediate contact"; "the immediate vicinity"; "the immediate past" [syn: {contiguous}] 2: having no intervening medium; "an immediate influence" [ant: {mediate}] 3: immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and effect; "the immediate result"; "the immediate cause of the trouble" 4: of the present time and place; "the immediate revisions" 5: performed with little or no delay; "an immediate reply to my letter"; "prompt obedience"; "was quick to respond"; "a straightaway denial" [syn: {prompt}, {quick}, {straightaway}] From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]: 198 Moby Thesaurus words for "immediate": about to be, abrupt, accessible, actual, adjacent, adjoining, alert, already in sight, approaching, apt, articulated, as is, at hand, attendant, automatic, available, being, bordering, brewing, catenated, ceaseless, close, close at hand, closest, coming, concatenated, connected, connecting, constant, contemporaneous, contemporary, conterminous, contiguous, continual, continued, continuing, continuous, coterminous, current, cursory, cyclical, decisive, direct, end to end, endless, endways, endwise, existent, existing, expeditious, extant, face to face, featureless, festinate, feverish, firsthand, flying, forthcoming, fresh, furious, future, gapless, gathering, going to happen, hair-trigger, hasty, hurried, immanent, imminent, impendent, impending, in danger imminent, in prospect, in reserve, in store, in the cards, in the offing, in the wind, in view, incessant, indwelling, inherent, instant, instantaneous, instinctive, interminable, irreversible, joined, jointless, juxtaposed, juxtapositional, juxtapositive, last-minute, latest, lightning-like, linked, looming, lowering, lurking, menacing, modern, momentaneous, momentary, monotonous, near, near at hand, nearby, nearest, nearing, nearmost, neighbor, neighboring, never-ending, new, next, nigh, nighest, nonstop, on board, on deck, on hand, on the horizon, on the spot, one-way, overhanging, passing, perennial, periodic, preparing, present, present-age, present-day, present-time, pressing, presto, primary, prompt, proximate, punctual, quick, quick as lightning, quick as thought, ready, recurrent, reflex, repetitive, round-the-clock, running, seamless, serried, slap-bang, slapdash, smooth, snap, speedy, spontaneous, stable, steady, straight, straightaway, straightforward, straightway, sudden, summary, superficial, swift, that be, that is, that will be, threatening, to come, topical, twenty-four-hour, unbroken, unceasing, undeviating, undifferentiated, unending, unhesitating, unidirectional, uniform, unintermitted, unintermittent, unintermitting, uninterrupted, unrelieved, unremitting, unstopped, unswerving, unthinking, up-to-date, up-to-the-minute, upcoming, urgent, waiting, within call, within reach, within sight

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