Imminence

Imminence is the state or condition of being imminent—the near or impending occurrence of an event. It implies that something is expected to happen very soon, often with a sense of urgency or necessity. In everyday use, imminence conveys temporal proximity rather than certainty.

The word derives from Latin imminere, meaning to hang over or threaten, and entered English via Old French. Imminence is the noun form of the concept; imminent is the corresponding adjective used to describe something about to happen.

Usage and contexts vary by field. In law and public safety, phrases such as imminent danger describe threats that require immediate action and may influence responses like self-defense or emergency measures. In risk assessment, labeling a threat as imminent helps prioritize rapid decision-making and resource allocation. In philosophy and theology, imminence can describe the presence or closeness of a divine or transcendent reality within the world, or discuss eschatological expectations about future events. In everyday language, people speak of the imminence of deadlines, storms, or other upcoming happenings to express that they are near at hand.

Nuances distinguish imminence from related terms. Imminence emphasizes immediacy of occurrence rather than mere likelihood, and is often a feature of conditions reported with urgency. It differs from impending, which also signals nearness but can carry a broader or less urgent connotation, and from immediacy, which focuses more on the quality of being instant or direct rather than timing alone. Imminence thus denotes the proximity of an occurrence in time, typically within a short horizon.