urgent
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French urgent (“pressing, impelling”), from Latin urgēns, from urgēre (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”). Related to German würgen (“to strangle”), Lithuanian ver̃žti (“to string, tighten, constrict”), Russian (poetic) отверза́ть (otverzátʹ, “to open”, literally “to untie”), Polish otwierać (“to open”)) and English worry, wring, wreak, wreck.
Pronunciation
- (UK, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈɜː.d͡ʒənt/
- (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈɝ.d͡ʒənt/
Audio (US) (file)
- Hyphenation: ur‧gent
Adjective
urgent (comparative more urgent, superlative most urgent)
- Requiring immediate attention.
- An urgent appeal was sent out for assistance.
- Synonyms: pressing, needly
- Of people: insistent, solicitous.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Exodus XII::
- The Egyptians were vrgent vpon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste.
- c. 1794, Jane Austen, “[Lady Susan.]”, in J[ames] E[dward] Austen[-]Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen: […] to which is Added Lady Susan and Fragments of Two Other Unfinished Tales by Miss Austen, 2nd edition, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], published 1871, OCLC 45579380:
- My kind friends here are most affectionately urgent with me to prolong my stay […] .
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Usage notes
The primary meaning of urgent is as a description of a pressing need. Especially in journalistic contexts, it is sometimes used by transference to describe the thing needed, or to mean "happening very soon", which some deem erroneous.
Derived terms
- urgency
- urgently
Related terms
- urge
Translations
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Anagrams
- Gunter, gunter, gurnet
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin urgens.
Pronunciation
- (Balearic) IPA(key): /uɾˈʒent/
- (Central) IPA(key): /urˈʒen/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /uɾˈd͡ʒent/
Adjective
urgent (masculine and feminine plural urgents)
- urgent
Derived terms
- urgentment
Related terms
- urgència
- urgir
Further reading
- “urgent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “urgent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “urgent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “urgent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin urgens, present participle of urgeō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /yʁ.ʒɑ̃/
audio (file)
Adjective
urgent (feminine urgente, masculine plural urgents, feminine plural urgentes)
- urgent
Derived terms
- urgentiste
- urgentologie
- urgentologiste
- urgentologue
Related terms
- urgence
- urger
See also
- pressé
Further reading
- “urgent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈur.ɡent/, [ˈʊrɡɛn̪t̪]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈur.d͡ʒent/, [ˈurd͡ʒen̪t̪]
Verb
urgent
- third-person plural present active indicative of urgeō
Piedmontese
Alternative forms
- ürgent
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /yrˈd͡ʒɛŋt/
Adjective
urgent
- urgent
Romanian
Etymology
From French urgent, from Latin urgens.
Adjective
urgent m or n (feminine singular urgentă, masculine plural urgenți, feminine and neuter plural urgente)
- urgent
Declension
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative | indefinite | urgent | urgentă | urgenți | urgente | ||
definite | urgentul | urgenta | urgenții | urgentele | |||
genitive/ dative | indefinite | urgent | urgente | urgenți | urgente | ||
definite | urgentului | urgentei | urgenților | urgentelor |