Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Immediate \Im*me"di*ate\, a. [F. imm['e]diat. See {In-} not, and
{Mediate}.]
1. Not separated in respect to place by anything intervening;
proximate; close; as, immediate contact.
You are the most immediate to our throne. --Shak.
2. Not deferred by an interval of time; present; instant.
``Assemble we immediate council.'' --Shak.
Death . . . not yet inflicted, as he feared, By some
immediate stroke. --Milton.
3. Acting with nothing interposed or between, or without the
intervention of another object as a cause, means, or
agency; acting, perceived, or produced, directly; as, an
immediate cause.
The immediate knowledge of the past is therefore
impossible. --Sir. W.
Hamilton.
{Immediate amputation} (Surg.), an amputation performed
within the first few hours after an injury, and before the
the effects of the shock have passed away.
Syn: Proximate; close; direct; next.
Source : WordNet®
immediate
adj 1: very close or connected in space or time; "contiguous
events"; "immediate contact"; "the immediate
vicinity"; "the immediate past" [syn: {contiguous}]
2: having no intervening medium; "an immediate influence" [ant:
{mediate}]
3: immediately before or after as in a chain of cause and
effect; "the immediate result"; "the immediate cause of
the trouble"
4: of the present time and place; "the immediate revisions"
5: performed with little or no delay; "an immediate reply to my
letter"; "prompt obedience"; "was quick to respond"; "a
straightaway denial" [syn: {prompt}, {quick}, {straightaway}]