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instant

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A very short time.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

instuhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɪnstənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

  2. A very short period of time; a moment.

  3. A particular point in time

  4. A single, usually precise, point in time.

  5. A beverage or food which has been pre-processed to reduce preparation time, especially instant coffee.

  6. A camera that uses self-developing film to create a chemically developed print shortly after the photograph is taken.

adjective

  1. Occurring immediately; immediate; present.

  2. Very quickly and easily prepared.

  3. Lasting for a short moment; momentary; short-lived.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

Used this way, instant is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Particular / single

single instant

Beverage

instant coffeeinstant messaging

Camera

given instant

Other combinations

instant caseinstant deathfirst instant

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • instantiationnounDerived noun · specialist

    A representation of an idea in the form of an instance of it.

  • instantlyadverbDerived adverb

    Without delay or hesitation.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • instant coffeenounCompound term

    Dehydrated coffee that can be made into a drink by adding hot water.

  • instant replaynounCompound term

    The immediate rebroadcast of some action (especially sports action) that has been recorded on videotape.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink

tricewink

adjective

Sense: occurring immediately

flashInformalinstantaneous

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.