immediacy
Americannoun
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the state, condition, or quality of being immediate.
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Often immediacies. an immediate need.
the immediacies of everyday living.
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Philosophy.
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immediate presence of an object of knowledge to the mind, without any distortions, inferences, or interpretations, and without involvement of any intermediate agencies.
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the direct content of the mind as distinguished from representation or cognition.
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of immediacy
First recorded in 1595–1605; immedi(ate) + -acy
Explanation
Use the noun immediacy to talk about the lighting-fast speed with which something happens. If you order pizza and see the delivery driver pull up in front of your house two minutes later, you'll be amazed at the immediacy of your pizza's arrival. Something that's immediate, or instantaneous, has the quality of immediacy. Another way to use this noun is to mean "directly," or "firsthand." For example, when people first viewed live news reports on television, they probably marveled at the immediacy of watching something as it was happening, directly and without delay. Immediacy has been in use since about 1600, and it comes from the adjective immediate, with its Latin root of immediatus, "without anything in between."
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:
Their position near eye level gives these scenes an unusual immediacy, drawing us inescapably into these harrowing spectacles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
These movies were gritty and often absurd, sometimes going as far as to rubberneck at a tragedy to convey the immediacy of the moral at hand.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
In the immediacy of Disney, it sunk in as wondrous reflection on Donne’s line: “Though I speed not, I cannot miss.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Photographers and editors have often described Rai's work as bridging reportage and art, combining immediacy with composition.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
It had a noisy, gritty immediacy that I never felt at Sidley.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
I was engaging with the middle and upper class for the first time – it was surreal, seeing people who didn’t have to worry about the immediacies of life.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2020
In almost everything he discussed with the leaders of Asia, President Nixon found it necessary to deal in immediacies: a shooting war, changing alliances, a U.S. troop withdrawal that has already begun.
From Time Magazine Archive
Under the steely immediacies of England's sky, it should make sensational reading.
From Time Magazine Archive
The ancient schisms of the Christian church can seem far removed, sometimes, from the exciting immediacies of Park Avenue.
From Time Magazine Archive
"There are areas of human behavior—" Bennington observed that Scott and Mosby had turned away from the conversation to the immediacies of patrol distribution.
From Take the Reason Prisoner by McGuire, John Joseph
Definitions 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.
