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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:
Following a consultation, new guidance instructs courts to be rigorous in refusing to deal with cases that do not meet the criteria of urgency.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
“Your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won’t change the price,” he promised.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Perez, who works in post-production, and Mohiuddin, who works in communications, both like the specificity they hear in Raman’s comments about homelessness, City Hall accountability and greater urgency in problem-solving.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
Several officials, including Warsh’s two top deputies, said in the weeks after last month’s increase that there was no urgency to raise rates again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Jim was playing not to individual egos but to a common sense of humanity, purpose, and urgency.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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
They cited his “timeless modern design that confronts climate urgencies, transforms social relationships and reinvigorates cities.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 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
Every age category from pre-puberty to professional has changing stakes and urgencies around this issue, and none of those categories are neat.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2022
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.
