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IMMINENT
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Close in time; about to occur
Example:
his impending retirement
Synonyms:
at hand; close at hand; imminent; impendent; impending
Classified under:
Similar:
close (at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other)
Derivation:
imminence; imminency (the state of being imminent and liable to happen soon)
Context examples:
To humour your guilty elder son, you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent and unnecessary danger.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As bluntly as he could speak it, therefore, he told me that Marianne Dashwood was dying of a putrid fever at Cleveland—a letter that morning received from Mrs. Jennings declared her danger most imminent—the Palmers are all gone off in a fright, &c.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
He honoured the warm-hearted, blunt fondness of the young sailor, which led him to say, with his hands stretched towards Fanny's head, Do you know, I begin to like that queer fashion already, though when I first heard of such things being done in England, I could not believe it; and when Mrs. Brown, and the other women at the Commissioner's at Gibraltar, appeared in the same trim, I thought they were mad; but Fanny can reconcile me to anything; and saw, with lively admiration, the glow of Fanny's cheek, the brightness of her eye, the deep interest, the absorbed attention, while her brother was describing any of the imminent hazards, or terrific scenes, which such a period at sea must supply.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
An adverse event, and/or its immediate sequelae, which is associated with an imminent risk of death or which is associated with physical or mental disabilities that affect or limit the ability of a person to perform activities of daily living (eating, ambulation, toileting, etc.) See NCI Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events.
(Life Threatening or Disabling Adverse Event, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
Even when dislodged, he still kept the letter in his mouth; and on my endeavouring to take it from him, at the imminent risk of being bitten, he kept it between his teeth so pertinaciously as to suffer himself to be held suspended in the air by means of the document.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
A sleep disorder characterized by the repeated occurrence of frightening dreams which precipitate awakenings from sleep; on awakening, the individual becomes fully alert and oriented and has detailed recall of the nightmare, which usually involves imminent danger or extreme embarrassment to the individual.
(Nightmare Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)
On the one hand soldiers, sailors, and statesmen of the quality of Pitt, Nelson, and afterwards Wellington, had been forced to the front by the imminent menace of Buonaparte.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then from out of the silence, imminent and threatening, there came once more that low, throaty croaking, far louder and closer than before.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And before the wind we were, and leaping, when Johnson, easing his sheet at imminent peril, cut across our wake a hundred feet away.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
We were in the most imminent peril, but as we could only remain passive, my chief attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest whose illness increased in such a degree that he was entirely confined to his bed.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
