immédiate

Immédiate is a French adjective that designates something occurring without delay, or being directly connected in time, causality, or space. It can describe actions, reactions, effects, or relations, and it agrees with the noun it modifies in gender and number. For example, une réaction immédiate (a feminine noun) or un effet immédiat (a masculine noun). The feminine form is immédiate, used with feminine nouns.

The adverb form is immédiatement, used to indicate that something happens without delay: elle a immédiatement réagi. A related noun is l’immédiateté, which denotes the quality or state of being immediate, or the present moment.

Etymology and usage distinctions: immediates derive from Latin immediatus, meaning “unmediated,” via Old French immediat/immédiat. The term is cognate with the English immediate. In nuance, immédiat stresses promptness and lack of intermediary steps, while near-synonyms such as instantané emphasize instantaneousness at a specific moment, and imminent refers to something about to occur soon. The choice among them depends on the intended shade of meaning: immediate conveys urgency or directness; instantaneous stresses immediacy in a precise instant; imminent signals proximity in time to an event.

See also: immediateness and immédier through related forms. Common collocations include expression of immediate necessity, immediate response, and immediate effects, all indicating the absence of delay or the directness of connection.