instantaneous

adjective in·stan·ta·neous \ ˌin(t)-stən-ˈtā-nē-əs , -nyəs \

|Updated on: 9 Aug 2018

Examples: instantaneous in a Sentence

Definition of instantaneous

1 : done, occurring, or acting without any perceptible duration of time

death was instantaneous

2 : done without any delay being purposely introduced

took instantaneous corrective action

3 : occurring or present at a particular instant

instantaneous velocity

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instantaneity

play \ˌin-ˌstan-tə-ˈnē-ə-tē, ˌin(t)-stən-tə-ˈnē-\ noun

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instantaneously

play \ˌin(t)-stən-ˈtā-nē-əs-lē, -nyəs-lē\ adverb

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instantaneousness

noun

See instantaneous defined for English-language learners

See instantaneous defined for kids

Examples of instantaneous in a Sentence

We got an almost instantaneous response from the company.
the thunder following the flash of lightning was nearly instantaneous

Recent Examples of instantaneous from the Web

While this disruption of the status quo is worth immense admiration, the instantaneous meme-ifying of Okoumou’s iconic climb immediately rendered her superhuman in the public arena.

— jenn m. jackson, Teen Vogue, "Black Women Are Not Your Superheroes," 9 July 2018
Though applications like Google Translate are common and instantaneous tools for translating, Gabantxo says literary translation is an art with nuance and context that a computer cannot produce.

— savannah eadens, chicagotribune.com, "Translators' group brings international literature to Chicago," 27 June 2018
Jed Lowrie shot the final to Altuve, who began a 6-4-3 double play to lessen the instantaneous tension McCullers encountered.

— chandler rome, Houston Chronicle, "Evan Gattis' strong night leads Astros to victory against Athletics," 13 June 2018
Star Stable is by nature without territorial restraints and is a unique platform for debuting JoJo's new single to an instantaneous and globally relevant audience of tween/teen girls.

— cathy applefeld olson, Billboard, "JoJo Siwa to Release New Single 'Every Girl's a Super Girl' Exclusively Via 'Star Stable'," 4 Apr. 2018
Her connection to Basquiat’s work was instantaneous and serious.

— stephen metcalf, The Atlantic, "Jean-Michel Basquiat Is Still an Enigma," 24 June 2018
American Solar and Roofing encourages customers to use a device that allows them to monitor the instantaneous demand of their home, allowing them to avoid setting a high demand fee for the month.

— ryan randazzo, azcentral, "Should you install solar on your home? 10 key considerations," 4 July 2018
The most immediately affected will be credit-card interest rates, which are subject to near-instantaneous revision to track the federal funds rate.

— irina ivanova, CBS News, "Federal Reserve hikes key interest rate another quarter-point," 13 June 2018
The attraction was instantaneous, but their first date was back in New Orleans, meeting for breakfast at the Ruby Slipper.

— sue strachan, NOLA.com, "Baseball player knocks it out of park with wedding proposal," 3 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'instantaneous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.