imminent

adjective

im·mi·nent ˈi-mə-nənt

Synonyms of imminent next

: ready to take place : happening soon

… systems engineers have become rather blasé about the imminent liftoff.—

Steven L. Thompson

—often used of something bad or dangerous seen as menacingly near

imminent disaster

Like books, board games appear headed for imminent demise at the hands of cathode-ray terminals.—

Will Manley

imminently adverb

Did you know?

On Imminent and Eminent

Imminent bears a close resemblance to eminent, and native English-speakers can be excused if they sometimes have to check their spelling. No surprise, really, since the two, despite their very distinct meanings, come from near-identical sources. The Latin minēre means basically “to project, overhang,” and it forms the root of other Latin words. One added the prefix e-, meaning “out from,” to produce eminēre, “to stand out”; another took the prefix im-, meaning “upon,” and became imminēre, “to project.” The difference between “stand out” and “project” is obviously small. Still, even when eminent and imminent first appeared as English words in the 15th and 16th centuries respectively, they were clearly distinct in meaning, imminent’s prefix having strengthened the “overhang” sense of minēre to give the word its frequent suggestion of looming threat.

Examples of imminent in a Sentence

The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the local authorities were momentarily stunned, and began frantically trying to prepare for what they feared were further imminent attacks. —

Richard A. Clarke, Atlantic, January/February 2005

The compression squashes the bullet slightly, enabling about a half-dozen spiral grooves cut along the barrel's inner wall to grab the bullet and make it spin. That spin stabilizes the bullet's imminent flight. —

Peter Weiss, Science News, 11 Jan. 2003

Plaints about the imminent demise of the language are made in every century. But there is usually nothing inherently wrong with most changes the purists deplore. —

Steven Pinker, New York Times, 24 Dec. 1999

We are awaiting their imminent arrival. These patients are facing imminent death.

Recent Examples on the Web The National Hurricane Center said Lee was a huge storm and that tropical storm conditions were imminent for parts of coastal New England. —

Leigh Morgan, al, 15 Sep. 2023 White House officials are spending the hours leading up to the late night deadline tracking the negotiations and encouraging the parties to remain at the table, and an announcement of any economic assistance to affected parties is not imminent. —

Bydavid Welch, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2023 The actors union hasn’t heard from the studios since its members went on strike nearly two months ago, a source said, and there’s no imminent deal for the writers union, either. —

Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 14 Sep. 2023 Wendy's is also celebrating the imminent arrival of fall — and all things pumpkin spice. —

Erin Clack, Peoplemag, 13 Sep. 2023 As record heat spurred demand for power to run air conditioners across Texas on Wednesday, a key transmission line supplying the Dallas area showed signs of an imminent overload. —

Bloomberg Wire, Dallas News, 7 Sep. 2023 In the case of the Nuh violence, online threats and counter-threats in the days before the march made clear the possibility of an imminent spiral, which residents said the police ignored. —

Hari Kumar, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023 Her question, though, wasn't about supposedly imminent lockdowns, but rather whether the country can avoid lengthy lockdowns by adequately preparing for future pandemics. —

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2023 Officials spoke of imminent transfers to a new, higher-security death row in Livingston. —

Keri Blakinger, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imminent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English imynent, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French iminent, emynant, borrowed from Latin imminent-, imminens, present participle of imminēre "to rise up, project so as to overhang (of a structure or natural feature), be intent, impend (of something unpleasant or dangerous), threaten," from im- im- + -minēre, taken to mean "stand out, rise above" (unattested without a prefix) — more at minatory

First Known Use

1528, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of imminent was in 1528

See more words from the same year