adjective
-
liable to happen soon; impending
-
obsolete jutting out or overhanging
Related Words
Imminent, Impending, Threatening all may carry the implication of menace, misfortune, disaster, but they do so in differing degrees. Imminent may portend evil: an imminent catastrophe, but also may mean simply “about to happen”: The merger is imminent. Impending has a weaker sense of immediacy and threat than imminent : Real tax relief legislation is impending, but it too may be used in situations portending disaster: impending social upheaval; to dread the impending investigation. Threatening almost always suggests ominous warning and menace: a threatening sky just before the tornado struck.
Other Word Forms
- imminence noun
- imminently adverb
- imminentness noun
- unimminent adjective
Etymology
Origin of imminent
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin imminent- (stem of imminēns ), present participle of imminēre “to overhang,” equivalent to im- im- 1 + -min- from a base meaning “jut out, project, rise” ( eminent, mount 2 ) + -ent- -ent
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.
But there is no imminent risk of the U.S. government running out of money in the way a company or household might.
From Barron's
Before the announcement, Unilever confirmed overnight that talks were ongoing, after the Wall Street Journal reported that a deal was imminent.
From MarketWatch
But these funds still have scope to reduce positioning further if there isn’t an imminent rally, or if volatility picks up.
From MarketWatch
The central bank, he said, isn’t facing an imminent decision on what to do with rates because “we don’t know what the economic effects” of the Iran war will be.
From MarketWatch
Plaid declined to comment on the timing of a potential IPO, but said it isn’t imminent.
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.
