different between instant vs impulse

English

Alternative forms

• instaunt (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nst?nt/

Etymology 1

From Middle English instant (“infinitely short period of time”), from Old French instant (“assiduous, at hand”, adj), from Latin instans, instant- (“present, pressing, urgent”, literally “standing near”), from in + st?re (“to stand”). Compare Old English instede (“immediately, on the spot, at once”). More at in, stand.

Noun

instant (plural instants)

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

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

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

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French and French instant, from Latin instans (“standing by, being near, present, also urgent, importunate”), present participle of inst? (“to stand upon, press upon, urge, pursue, insist”), from in (“on, upon”) + st? (“to stand”); see state.

Adjective

instant (not comparable)

1. (dated) Impending; imminent.

   Synonyms: pending, proximate; see also Thesaurus:impending

   • 1703, Matthew Prior, an Ode to Colonel George Villiers

     Impending death is thine, and instant doom.

2. (dated) Urgent; pressing; acute.
3. (dated) Insistent; persistent.

   Synonyms: exigent, imperious; see also Thesaurus:urgent

   • Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.

   • January 2, 1827, Thomas Carlyle, letter to Mrs. Carlyle, Scotsbrig

     I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation.

4. (law) Present; current; extant.
   • December 28, 2019 Attorney Jeffery S. Levin, quoted in The Boston Globe, p. 3

     He received just two disciplinary reports prior to committing the instant offense, one in March 2019 for activating an alarm during a non-emergency situation, and one in May 2019 for failing to provide a urine specimen.

5. Occurring immediately; immediate; present.

   Synonyms: instantaneous; see also Thesaurus:instantaneous

   • 1645, Thomas Fuller, Good Thoughts in Bad Times

     The instant time is always the fittest time.
6. Lasting for a short moment; momentary; short-lived.

   Synonyms: brief, transient; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral

7. Very quickly and easily prepared.

8. Of the current month.

   Synonym: (abbreviation) inst.

Derived terms

• instantize, instantise
• instantly
• instant mash
• instant replay

Related terms

• instakill
• instance

Translations

Adverb

instant (not comparable)

1. (poetic) At once; immediately.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I.182:

     He left the room for his relinquished sword, / And Julia instant to the closet flew.

Related terms

• inst
• instance
• instancy
• instantaneous
• instantaneously
• instanter
• instantial
• instantiate
• instantly

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ?nst?ns.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ins?tant/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ins?tan/

Noun

instant m (plural instants)

1. instant (very short period of time)

Related terms

• instantani

Further reading

• “instant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “instant” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “instant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “instant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s.t??/

Adjective

instant (feminine singular instante, masculine plural instants, feminine plural instantes)

1. (literary) pressing, insistent

Noun

instant m (plural instants)

1. instant, minute, moment

Derived terms

Further reading

• “instant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

?nstant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of ?nst?

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English instant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [in?stant]

Adjective

instant m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. instant (very quickly and easily prepared)

Declension

Adjective

instant m or n (feminine singular instant?, masculine plural instan?i, feminine and neuter plural instante)

1. (nonstandard) instant (occurring immediately; immediate; present)

Declension

Synonyms

• instantaneu

Adverb

instant

1. (nonstandard) instantly

Synonyms

• instantaneu

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French impulser, from Latin impulsus.

For spelling, as in pulse, the -e (on -lse) is so the end is pronounced /ls/, rather than /lz/ as in pulls, and does not change the vowel (‘u’). Compare else, false, convulse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??mp?ls/
• Hyphenation: im?pulse

Noun

impulse (plural impulses)

1. A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.
   • c. 1715-1716, Samuel Clarke, letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

     All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse.

2. A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action.
   • 1692?, John Dryden, Sylvae (translations), Preface

     These were my natural impulses for the undertaking.
3. (physics) The integral of force over time.

   The total impulse from the impact will depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile.

Derived terms

• impulse buy
• nerve impulse
• on impulse

Related terms

• impel
• impulsion
• impulsive
• impulsively
• impulsiveness
• impulsivity
• impulsor
• pulse

Translations

Verb

impulse (third-person singular simple present impulses, present participle impulsing, simple past and past participle impulsed)

1. (obsolete) To impel; to incite.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

References

• impulse in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• impulse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “impulse”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: impulsent, impulses

Verb

impulse

1. first-person singular present indicative of impulser
2. third-person singular present indicative of impulser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of impulser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of impulser
5. second-person singular imperative of impulser

Italian

Verb

impulse

1. third-person singular past historic of impellere

Latin

Participle

impulse

1. vocative masculine singular of impulsus

Spanish

Noun

impulse m (plural impulses)

1. push, shove

Verb

impulse

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of impulsar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of impulsar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of impulsar.