immediacy

noun

im·​me·​di·​a·​cy i-ˈmē-dē-ə-sē 

British often -ˈmē-jə-sē

plural immediacies

1

: the quality or state of being immediate

the immediacy of a live performance

2

: something that is immediate

the immediacy of our need

—usually used in plural

the basic immediacies of life

Synonyms of immediacy

• proximity

Examples of immediacy in a Sentence

Television coverage gave the war greater immediacy than it had ever before had.

There is an immediacy to watching a live performance that you cannot get from hearing a recording.

Recent Examples on the Web

By cutting so much of Brontë’s sprawling novel down to the quick, by focusing so squarely on just Cathy and Heathcliff, we’re trapped only in the immediacy of their doomed affection, which is never allowed to be hot enough to make the entire effort come together, let alone come undone. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 9 Feb. 2026

The book forfeits the puckish immediacy of Bush’s Instagram dispatches for more earnest, effortful prose. —Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026

Interpretation without immediacy is discounted. —Charles Edward Gehrke, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2026

Wilson said the immediacy of her script connects with how Hedda isn’t simply an antiquated character from the past but someone women today can identify with. —Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1605, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

immediacy

noun

im·​me·​di·​a·​cy im-ˈēd-ē-ə-sē 

plural immediacies

1

: the quality or state of being immediate

2

: something that is of immediate importance

immediacies of daily life