Definitions for instant
ˈɪn stəntin·stant

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, New York minute(noun)

   a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

   "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash"

2. moment, minute, second, instant(adj)

   a particular point in time

   "the moment he arrived the party began"

3. instantaneous, instant(a)(adj)

   occurring with no delay

   "relief was instantaneous"; "instant gratification"

4. instant, inst(adj)

   in or of the present month

   "your letter of the 10th inst"

5. clamant, crying, exigent, insistent, instant(adj)

   demanding attention

   "clamant needs"; "a crying need"; "regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"- H.L.Mencken; "insistent hunger"; "an instant need"

GCIDE(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Instant(n.)

   A point in time; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment; as, the situation may change in an instant.

   Etymology: [F. instant, fr. L. instans standing by, being near, present. See Instant, a.]

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Instant(adj)

   pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest

   Etymology: [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

2. Instant(adj)

   closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay

   Etymology: [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

3. Instant(adj)

   present; current

   Etymology: [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

4. Instant(adverb)

   instantly

   Etymology: [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

5. Instant(adj)

   a point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment

   Etymology: [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

6. Instant(adj)

   a day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3

   Etymology: [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Instant

   in′stant, adj. pressing, urgent: immediate: quick: without delay: present, current, as the passing month.—n. the present moment of time: any moment or point of time.—n. Instantanē′ity.—adj. Instantān′eous, done in an instant: momentary: occurring or acting at once: very quickly.—adv. Instantān′eously.—n. Instantān′eousness.—advs. Instan′ter, immediately; In′stantly, on the instant or moment: immediately: (Shak.) at the same time: (B.) importunately, zealously. [L. instans, -antis, pr.p. of instāre—in, upon, stāre, to stand.]

British National Corpus

1. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'instant' in Adjectives Frequency: #925

How to pronounce instant?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say instant in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of instant in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of instant in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of instant in a Sentence

1. Rory McIlroy:

   Everything's so instant now and everyone doesn't have as much time as they used to so you maybe try some way of speeding the game up, the viewership in golf is up but the participation is down. People enjoy watching the game but gone are the days that you could spend five or six hours on a golf course.

2. Sam Hook:

   One of the things that we noticed which was quite interesting was that these lakes are actually, in some cases, warming faster than the air temperatures because the air temperatures, you know, change in an instant, whereas the water temperatures, they reflect what is going on in the entire environment around them. So, it could be a reflection of there being less cloud cover, it could be a consequence of more glacial melt water coming into the lake. All these different processes taking place and they integrate them and they warm more gradually but the consequences of that warming can be very serious.

3. Assa Abloy:

   It would take a big team of skilled specialists years to try to repeat the effort. Since the tools are not made available, it is not about just going into a hotel and getting instant access, these locks represent only a small fraction of the hotel locks in the world and are being rapidly replaced with new, more advanced technology.

4. Clifford Villanueva Villalon:

   People appear and disappear in an instant. No magic or wizardry in the real world of living.

5. Olive Schreiner:

   From our earliest hour we have been taught that the thought of the heart, the shaping of the rain-cloud, the amount of wool that grows on a sheep's back, the length of a drought, and the growing of the corn, depend on nothing that moves immutable, at the heart of all things; but on the changeable will of a changeable being, whom our prayers can alter. To us, from the beginning, Nature has been but a poor plastic thing, to be toyed with this way or that, as man happens to please his deity or not; to go to church or not; to say his prayers right or not; to travel on a Sunday or not. Was it possible for us in an instant to see Nature as she is --the flowing vestment of an unchanging reality?

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