English

Adjective

instantaneous ‎(not comparable)

1. Occurring, arising, or functioning without any delay; happening within an imperceptibly brief period of time.
   • 1631, William Twisse, A discovery of D. Iacksons vanitie, ch. 6, p. 223,

     This instantaneous motion is supposed by you, to be infinitely swift.

   • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, ch. 14.

     However, no lovers in romance ever cemented a more instantaneous friendship.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, ch. 57,

     The colour now rushed into Elizabeth's cheeks in the instantaneous conviction of its being a letter from the nephew.

   • 1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent, ch. 4,

     It's the principle of the pneumatic instantaneous shutter for a camera lens.

   • 2007, Spector jury given graphic account of actress 'murder' Times Online, London, 30 May (retrieved 13 July 2007),

     He said that the bullet went through her head, severed her spine and death would have been almost instantaneous.

Synonyms

• instant

Derived terms

• instantaneously
• instantaneity

Translations

References

• “instantaneous” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• instantaneous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “instantaneous” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• “instantaneous” in Microsoft's Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition (2007)
• "instantaneous" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• "instantaneous" in Compact Oxford English Dictionary, (Oxford University Press, 2007)
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)