Definition of "immediate" []

• Occurring at once; instant: gave me an immediate response. (adjective)
• Of or near the present time: in the immediate future. (adjective)
• Of or relating to the present time and place; current: "It is probable that, apart from the most immediate, pragmatic, technical revisions, the writer's effort to detach himself from his work is quixotic” ( Joyce Carol Oates). (adjective)
• Close at hand; near: in the immediate vicinity. See Synonyms at close. (adjective)
• Next in line or relation: is an immediate successor to the president of the company. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And this is a question which demands immediate attention -- _immediate_ attention; for more than £26,000,000 are paid by taxpayers each year to be spent in great part on our wretched system of poor laws."
• "Idealists discredit the veracity of consciousness as to our immediate knowledge of material phenomena, and, consequently, our _immediate knowledge of the existence of matter_. ["
• "The term immediate is used in contrast with that of gradual."