imminent

adjective

im·​mi·​nent ˈi-mə-nənt 

: 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.

Synonyms

• impending
• looming
• pending
• threatening

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

Federal employees who would have had their paychecks withheld in the event of a shutdown were informed Friday about the imminent possibility, while the White House assured there was still time to make a deal. —Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2024

In Wisconsin, neither the responsible party nor the DNR are required to inform the public of an oil spill, Nobile said, unless there is imminent risk to the public. —Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 20 Dec. 2024

And while President Joe Biden added requirements to make pricing information more user-friendly, Donald Trump's imminent return to the White House has raised questions about what's next, even though posting prices is an area of rare bipartisan agreement. —Julie Appleby, NPR, 19 Dec. 2024

Record sales continue to soar, defying predictions of an imminent bubble burst, with extravagant box sets, limited vinyl runs and reissues offering fans a way to celebrate their favorite albums anew. —Jim Ryan, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024

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

Kids Definition

imminent

adjective

im·​mi·​nent ˈim-ə-nənt 

: being about to happen

in imminent danger

imminently adverb