Wiktionary

imminent

See also: imminént

English

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Etymology

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From the present participle of Latin imminēre (“to overhang”), from mineō ("to project, overhang"), related to minae (English menace) and mons (English mount). Compare with eminent.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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imminent (comparative more imminent, superlative most imminent)

  1. About to happen, occur, or take place very soon, especially of something which won't last long.
    Synonyms: inevitable, immediate, impending; see also Thesaurus:impending
    • 1927, Whitney v. California:
      To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion.
    • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:
      The Second World War was reaching fever pitch, with the entire Allied effort in top gear for the imminent invasion of Europe, while later that month buzz bombs would start falling on London.
    • 2026 March 17, Julian E. Barnes, Robert Draper, Luke Broadwater, quoting Joe Kent, “Joe Kent, a Top Counterterrorism Official for the Trump Administration, Resigns, Citing Iran War”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Usage notes

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  • Imminent and eminent are very similar sounds, and are weak rhymes; in dialects with the pin-pen merger, these become homophones. A typo of either word may result in a correction to the wrong word by spellchecking software.
  • Similarly imminent is not to be confused with immanent (“intrinsic and related concepts”) or immanant (“a certain type of scalar property of a matrix”).
  • Imminent often implies imminence of adverse effects: urgency, danger, threat, or death, rather than desirable prospects.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin imminentem (“projecting, overhanging; threatening, menacing”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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imminent m or f (masculine and feminine plural imminents)

  1. imminent

Derived terms

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Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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From Latin imminentem.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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imminent (feminine imminente, masculine plural imminents, feminine plural imminentes)

  1. imminent

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Latin

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Verb

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imminent

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of immineō
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