IMMINENT.

Synonyms:

impending,threatening.

Imminent, from the Latin, with the sense of projecting over, signifies liable to happen at once, as some calamity, dangerous and close at hand. Impending, also from the Latin, with the sense of hanging over, is closely akin to imminent, but somewhat less emphatic. Imminent is more immediate, impending more remote, threatening more contingent. An impending evil is almost sure to happen at some uncertain time, perhaps very near; an imminent peril is one liable to befall very speedily; a threatening peril may be near or remote, but always with hope that it may be averted.

Antonyms:

chimerical,contingent,doubtful,improbable,problematical,unexpected,unlikely.

[213]

IMPEDIMENT.

Synonyms: