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urgent definition

ur·gent (-jənt)

adjective

  1. calling for haste, immediate action, etc.; grave; pressing
  2. insistent; importunate

Etymology: LME < MFr < L urgens, prp. of urgere, to press hard, urge

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

urgent Synonyms

urgent

modif.

  1. Of immediate importance

    pressing, critical, necessary, imperative, important, compelling, indispensable, momentous, wanted, required, called for, demanded, salient, chief, paramount, essential, primary, vital, principal, absorbing, all-absorbing, not to be delayed, crucial, instant, leading, capital, overruling, foremost, exigent, crying; see also important 1.

    Antonyms trivial*, irrelevant*, untimely. *

  2. Insistent

    compelling, hortatory, persuasive, imperious, solemn, grave, weighty, impressive, earnest, importunate, clamorous, hasty, breathless, precipitate, frantic, impetuous, imperative, convincing, beseeching, seductive, commanding, imploring, eager, zealous, anxious, moving, excited, impulsive, vigorous, enthusiastic, overpowering, masterful; see also resolute 2.

    Antonyms apologetic*, hesitant*, diffident.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

urgent Usage Examples

Infinitive complement

  • do: NGOs should be communicating how the UK public can make poverty history, as well as why it is urgent to do so.

Modifying Another Word

  • increasingly: The rapid expansion in activity has led to an increasingly urgent need for the development of a sound theoretical base.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: The skill mix that is required these days and the increasing demands made on nurses makes a review urgent.

Modifies a noun

  • referral: Treatment is hastily started, there is an urgent surgical referral.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: His voice becomes softly urgent ] Come home with me home, Ella.
urgent usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

urgent quotes

The old house carried an assurance, typically 2 Portuguese, that nothing was urgent.

-Acheson, Dean Gooderham

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said,We be all dead men.

-Bible (Old Testament)

urgent quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"urgent." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/urgent>

APA Style

urgent. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/urgent

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