immediate definition

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." "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.

<surgery> Hamilton) Immediate amputation, an amputation performed within the first few hours after an injury, and before the the effects of the shock have passed away.

Synonyms: Proximate, close, direct, next.

Origin: F. Immediat. See In- not, and Mediate.