Thesaurus: instant

Related headwords

Definitions

1. a. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest.
2. a. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay.
3. a. Present; current.
4. adv. Instantly.
5. a. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment.
6. a. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3.
7. adj. occurring with no delay
8. adj. in or of the present month
9. adj. demanding attention
10. n. a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
11. n. a particular point in time
12. 1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12. I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. Carlyle. 2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior. 3. Present; current. The instant time is always the fittest time. Fuller. Note: The word in this sense is now used only in dates, to indicate the current month; as, the tenth of July instant. Instantly. [Poetic] Instant he flew with hospitable haste. Pope. 1. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment. There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being. Hooker. 2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3. Syn. -- Moment; flash; second.