English Explanatory Dictionary

urgent

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Requiring immediate attention.
  2. Of people: insistent, solicitous.

Pronunciation

/ˈɜː.d͡ʒənt/ /ˈɝ.d͡ʒənt/ En-us-urgent.ogg

Word forms

urgent more urgent most urgent

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.

Synonyms

acute bad clamant crying dire sore exigent imperious instant rash severe pressing pressive urgent needly burning

Antonyms

evergreen nonurgent unurgent

Related words

urge

Derived words

nonurgent urgency urgent care urgently
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