adjective
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liable to happen soon; impending
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obsolete jutting out or overhanging
Related Words
Imminent, Impending, Threatening all may carry the implication of menace, misfortune, disaster, but they do so in differing degrees. Imminent may portend evil: an imminent catastrophe, but also may mean simply “about to happen”: The merger is imminent. Impending has a weaker sense of immediacy and threat than imminent : Real tax relief legislation is impending, but it too may be used in situations portending disaster: impending social upheaval; to dread the impending investigation. Threatening almost always suggests ominous warning and menace: a threatening sky just before the tornado struck.
Other Word Forms
- imminence noun
- imminently adverb
- imminentness noun
- unimminent adjective
Etymology
Origin of imminent
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin imminent- (stem of imminēns ), present participle of imminēre “to overhang,” equivalent to im- im- 1 + -min- from a base meaning “jut out, project, rise” ( eminent, mount 2 ) + -ent- -ent
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.
An unnamed official told the WSJ there was no "imminent threat" to Iran, the paper wrote.
From BBC
The firm believes a deal with the White House is “imminent.”
From Barron's
The biggest winners share another thing in common: Their businesses look set to keep growing, without an imminent patent cliff.
The concentrated nature of the bets, in a brand-new account, when there was little public news pointing specifically to an imminent ouster of Maduro are all potential indicators of an insider, longtime Polymarket watchers said.
It allows for "self-defence if an armed attack occurs" but that threat must be imminent, Prof Moffett said.
From BBC
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.
