Word of the week: immediate
The adjective immediate first appears at B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile. Learners know the more frequent adverb immediately at A2, but the two meanings for immediate given in the entry below, WITHOUT WAITING and IMPORTANT NOW, are at a higher level of competence. One further meaning of the adjective will be added at C1 level, that of CLOSEST, as in the dictionary examples There are few facilities in the immediate area and His immediate family have been informed. Roland Hindmarsh, who produced the landmark Cambridge English Lexicon more than thirty years ago, put this meaning at his level 6, which corresponds to C1. Hindmarsh’s work has been a useful additional source for this project and, where the language hasn’t changed, it remains an impressively accurate ‘graded word list’, which was painstakingly prepared without the benefits of 21st century computer technology.To view the full entry for immediate on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
