IMMEDIATE
Im*me"di*ate, a. Etym: [F. immédiat. See In- not, and Mediate.]
1. Not separated in respect to place by anything intervening; proximate; close; as, immediate contact. You are the most immediate to our throne. Shak.
2. Not deferred by an interval of time; present; instant. "Assemble we immediate council." Shak. Death . . . not yet inflicted, as he feared, By some immediate stroke. Milton.
3. Acting with nothing interposed or between, or without the intervention of another object as a cause, means, or agency; acting, perceived, or produced, directly; as, an immediate cause. The immediate knowledge of the past is therefore impossible. Sir. W. Hamilton. Immediate amputation (Surg.), an amputation performed within the first few hours after an injury, and before the the effects of the shock have passed away.
Syn.
— Proximate; close; direct; next.
IMMEDIATELY
Im*me"di*ate*ly, adv.
1. In an immediate manner; without intervention of any other person or thing; proximately; directly; — opposed to mediately; as, immediately contiguous. God's acceptance of it either immediately by himself, or mediately by the hands of the bishop. South.
2. Without interval of time; without delay; promptly; instantly; at once. And Jesus . . . touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matt. viii. 3.
3. As soon as. Cf. Directly,
8, Note.