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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:
Critics point to a quilt-like pattern of toxins, rather than widespread contamination, as evidence that the lead was likely present before the Eaton fires and could be treated with less urgency.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
But the images also bring back “the chirping and the beeping,” the panic and urgency, and the toe-prick tests that made Jackson bruise and “squeal” with pain.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2026
The power of that writing is let down by another plodding arrangement, stripping Abrams' words of their urgency.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Adalja said it is more forceful, with an urgency to go.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Talking about Shabbat rekindled her urgency to get the onions brought in from the field so Mama could take them to the Friday market.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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
“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
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.
