Still, even when eminent and imminent first appeared as English words in the 15th and 16th centuries respectively, they were clearly distinct in meaning, imminent’s prefix having strengthened the “overhang” sense of minēre to give the word its frequent suggestion of looming threat....
Word History and Origins Origin ofimminent1 First recorded in 1520–30; fromLatinimminent-(stem ofimminēns), present participle ofimminēre“to overhang,” equivalent toim-im-1+-min-from a base meaning “jut out, project, rise” (eminent,mount2) +-ent--ent ...
If David Kay is right in saying that there were no WMDs in Iraq last year, then the Iraqi threat could not have been imminent. Ah, but President Bush never claimed the threat was imminent, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan!The New American...
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im‧mi‧nent/ˈɪmɪnənt/●○○adjectivean event that isimminent, especially anunpleasantone, will happen very soonimminent danger/threat/death/disaster etcHe was in imminent danger of dying.A new trade agreement is imminent.—imminencenoun[uncountable]the imminence of the General Electi...
Gävle Goat must be dreading the imminent holiday and his fifty-fifty chance of destruction. From The Daily Beast Ascension being a holiday here, all we pianists made up a walking party out to Tiefurt, about two miles distant. From Project Gutenberg For instance, few workmen will take a ...
A few newspapers, notably The New York Times, adopted a highly informative yet less visually prominent weather map that was specially designed to explain an important recent or imminent weather event. Ironically, a newspaper's richest, most instructive weather maps often are comparatively small and ...
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"overhanging; impending," present participle of imminere "to overhang, lean towards,"… See origin and meaning of imminent.