instancy
Americannoun
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the quality of being urgent or imminent
-
instantaneousness; immediateness
Etymology
Origin of instancy
From the Latin word instantia, dating back to 1505–15. See instance, -ancy
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.
They have about them the brilliance or instancy of their moment but also the cello sound of loss that life makes when going irrecoverably away and lodging at last in the dreamworks.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even now Ralph could see his lips moving in the instancy of his unuttered supplication.
From The Lilac Sunbonnet by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
As he went he looked upward often in self-communion, and sometimes groaned aloud in the instancy of his unspoken prayer.
From Bog-Myrtle and Peat Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
The ending moved him strangely: Still with unhurrying chase, And unperturbèd face Deliberate speed, majestic instancy Came on the following Feet, And a voice above their beat— "Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."
From The "Genius" by Theodore Dreiser
But with unhurrying chase, And unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, They beat—and a Voice beat More instant than the Feet - "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."
From Poems by Francis Thompson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
