urgent
UK /ˈɜː.d͡ʒənt/ · US /ˈɝ.d͡ʒənt/ adjective
- adjective Requiring immediate attention. “An urgent appeal was sent out for assistance.”
- adjective Of people: insistent, solicitous.
Synonyms
pressing needly clamant burning instant acute bad crying dire sore exigent imperious rash severe pressive
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French urgent (“pressing, impelling”), from Latin urgēns, from urgēre (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”). Equivalent to urge + -ent. 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.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Urging; pressing; besetting; plying, with importunity; calling for immediate attention; instantly important. "The urgent hour." Shak.
Etymology [L. urgens, p. pr. of urgere: cf. F. urgent. See Urge.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “urgent”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details