Urgent Meaning
/ˈɜː.d͡ʒənt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjRequiring immediate attention.
adjOf people: insistent, solicitous.
Sentence Examples
I canceled my appointment because of urgent business.
I need to make an urgent call. Is there a public phone near here?
The police have issued an urgent appeal for information.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hospital received an ____ call about a patient having a severe heart attack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please mark the email as ____ so that the client knows they need to respond as soon as possible.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Egyptians were vrgent vpon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus XII::
"My kind friends here are most affectionately urgent with me to prolong my stay […]."
— c. 1794, Jane Austen, “[Lady Susan.]”, in J[ames] E[dward] Austen[-]Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen: […] to which is Added Lady Susan and Fragments of Two Other Unfinished Tales by Miss Austen, 2nd edition, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], published 1871, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hospital received an ____ call about a patient having a severe heart attack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please mark the email as ____ so that the client knows they need to respond as soon as possible.