as in inherent
being a part of the innermost nature of a person or thing
a question as to whether altruism is immanent in all individuals or is instead acquired from without
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of immanent
Yet this tenuous compromise had already fractured due to other immanent factors, well before the recent targeting of artists and bohemians with a full-frontal assault mounted with the instruments of the fascist and protofascist regimes of long ago.
—
Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025
Repatriation, while an immanent and continuous process, is often relegated to secondary status by state actors that prioritize state building, stabilization, early recovery, and reconstruction.
—Jesse Marks, Foreign Affairs, 11 Feb. 2025
Silently, austerely, his work seemed to prophesy a future state in which photography would colonize the immanent world and illusions overtake reality.
—Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2023
Since then, the opera house – though in so many places the art form is dismissed as an elitist art form with little relevance to today’s challenges and mindsets – has emerged as an immanent pole of strength, support, and solace for a city living under the clouds of war and aggression.
—Howard Lafranchi, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 July 2023
But Pynchon’s theory of history offers its own immanent critique.
—John Semley, WIRED, 16 Feb. 2023
But the experience of becoming a parent, as Nabokov describes it in Speak, Memory, suggests a third possibility—one which, if interpreted correctly, is possible to verify empirically: that death and rebirth are immanent in life itself.
—Ryan Ruby, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
Blackness in abstraction, as the curator Adrienne Edwards has written, is a more capacious and immanent model of artistic creation than many of our institutions can handle.
—Jason Farago, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2022
Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025
Repatriation, while an immanent and continuous process, is often relegated to secondary status by state actors that prioritize state building, stabilization, early recovery, and reconstruction.
—Jesse Marks, Foreign Affairs, 11 Feb. 2025
Silently, austerely, his work seemed to prophesy a future state in which photography would colonize the immanent world and illusions overtake reality.
—Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2023
Since then, the opera house – though in so many places the art form is dismissed as an elitist art form with little relevance to today’s challenges and mindsets – has emerged as an immanent pole of strength, support, and solace for a city living under the clouds of war and aggression.
—Howard Lafranchi, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 July 2023
But Pynchon’s theory of history offers its own immanent critique.
—John Semley, WIRED, 16 Feb. 2023
But the experience of becoming a parent, as Nabokov describes it in Speak, Memory, suggests a third possibility—one which, if interpreted correctly, is possible to verify empirically: that death and rebirth are immanent in life itself.
—Ryan Ruby, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
Blackness in abstraction, as the curator Adrienne Edwards has written, is a more capacious and immanent model of artistic creation than many of our institutions can handle.
—Jason Farago, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for immanent
Adjective
-
Framing developer hesitation as a market failure, as is done in AB 2166, overlooks that such uncertainty is inherent to large-scale development and new technology.—
Eliza Terziev,
Oc Register,
19 Apr. 2026
-
Corte talked about the challenges inherent in working with limited available space.—
Hank Beckman,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
These calculations help researchers tell apart the nucleus’s intrinsic behavior from outside effects caused by the solid around it.—
Andrei Derevianko,
The Conversation,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Having a say over who comes and goes into a country is an intrinsic part of what defines a country.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Car ownership has long been integral to the American dream.—
Alexa St. John,
Fortune,
11 Apr. 2026
-
But Levinson’s very first movie suggests there’s something more integral missing from his creative formula.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The ability to budget, save, manage debt and build credit is essential to navigating modern life.—
Brian Walter,
Baltimore Sun,
14 Apr. 2026
-
For the best burger—one with real beefy flavor—fat is essential.—
Li Goldstein,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
14 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Immanent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/immanent. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
