urgent

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɜː.d͡ʒənt/ (UK); /ˈɝ.d͡ʒənt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French urgent (“pressing, impelling”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin urgens, the present participle of urgēre (“to press hard, urge”) (see urge).^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the phrase urgent causes, pressing matters: the mid-15th century in Etymonline;^[2] demanding prompt action, 1496 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Severe or oppressive is an obsolete sense of 1545.^[7] Of persons, pressingly insistent or importunate, is from 1548,^[7] and of a feeling that impels, from 1559.^[7] Of commands or messages pressing a matter strongly it is from 1611.^[7]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – urgent causes.^[2]
• 1496 – demanding prompt action.^[7]
• 1548 – importunate.^[7]
• 1611 – of messages.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Requiring immediate action or attention; pressing.
2. Expressing a need for prompt action; insistent: an urgent request.

Word family

• urgently
• superurgent
• unurgent
• nonurgent
• urgency

Related words

• urge

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press