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Etymology
Origin of urgency
First recorded in 1530–40; from Late Latin urgentia “pressure,” from urgent-, stem of urgēns “pressing” ( see urgent) + -ia -ia
Explanation
When something has urgency it requires speedy action. If your weather report is flashing red and predicting a hurricane with record rainfall, that forecast would give some urgency to getting that hole in your roof fixed. Urgency comes from the Latin urgere, which means "press, or drive," and it's related to the English word urge. If there's urgency to a situation, it's a pressing issue and you have to respond quickly! Urgency also means an earnest and insistent need. When your friend calls and tells you, "Get into the basement, the hurricane is coming," there would be an urgency in your friend's voice that would make you scurry downstairs to safety.
Vocabulary lists containing urgency
The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 6
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The prosecutor asked the witness: "Where did urgency come from?"
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Key policymakers including New York Fed President John Williams and Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, in subsequent comments, made clear there was no urgency for a back-to-back increase at the Oct. 29-ending meeting.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
“The urgency to share what our local communities can expect has been pressing, and many local cities and nonprofits could no longer wait for outside direction,” said Sofia Klatzker, Santa Monica’s cultural affairs manager.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
"This accelerates all of our urgency to address climate resiliency on our coastline," he added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
Hers ticked with the urgency of the moment.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
And I use the word modern, meaning these characters’ urgencies, their interiorities, their conflict, the ways in which they contradict themselves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2024
Most goes to communities close to the border “due to the urgencies they are confronting,” but cities far from the border also get funds.
From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2023
"We are ready to give Italy a government that addresses the urgencies and challenges of our time with understanding and competence," Meloni wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
From Reuters ● Oct. 21, 2022
“I did not and I would not presume to impose my urgencies upon white poets writing in America,” Jordan wrote.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2020
When you're dying for so long, old urgencies wither and die.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
