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

This immediacy compresses decision-making timelines and speeds the pace of engagements. —Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 10 May 2026

Yokota and Kondo no longer rely on the straightforward immediacy of pop motifs on sound chips, but exploit the measured complexity that drives ambitious orchestral works like Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings. —Billie Bugara, Pitchfork, 9 May 2026

This access to immediacy — our ability to be there as history is unfolding — much of that is possible, thanks to the vision of CNN founder Ted Turner. —NPR, 6 May 2026

But there’s an immediacy about sound. —Matt Thompson, SPIN, 4 May 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