different between instant vs ready

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

From Middle English redy, redi, rædi?, iredi, ?er?di, alteration ( +? -y) of earlier ir?d, irede, ?er?d (“ready, prepared”), from Old English r?de, ?er?de (also ?er?de) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (“ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *r?yd?-, *r?y- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reyd?- (“to ride”) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready". Cognate with Scots readie, reddy (“ready, prepared”), West Frisian ree (“ready”), Dutch gereed (“ready”), German bereit (“ready”), Danish rede (“ready”), Swedish redo (“ready, fit, prepared”), Norwegian reiug (“ready, prepared”), Icelandic greiður (“easy, light”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (garaiþs, “arranged, ordered”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?'di, IPA^(key): /???.di/

• Homophone: reddy

  Rhymes: -?di

• Hyphenation: read?y

Adjective

ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)

1. Prepared for immediate action or use.
   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, journal to Stella

     she was told dinner was ready

2. Inclined; apt to happen.
3. Liable at any moment.
4. Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.

   Synonyms: dexterous, prompt, easy, expert
5. Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
   • 1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria

     A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.

Synonyms

• good to go

Antonyms

• unready

Translations

Verb

ready (third-person singular simple present readies, present participle readying, simple past and past participle readied)

1. (transitive) To prepare; to make ready for action.

Synonyms

• yark

Hypernyms

Derived terms

• foreready
• readily
• readiness
• ready-made
• ready-mixed
• ready-to-wear

Related terms

Translations

Noun

ready (countable and uncountable, plural readies)

1. (slang) ready money; cash
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     Lord Strut was not flush in ready, either to go to law, or to clear old debts.

   • 2008, Agnes Owens, The Group

     […] he was generous when he had the cash. Many a time he kept me going in drink through the week when I was stuck for the ready […]

Translations

Related terms

• already

Anagrams

• Yarde, dayer, deary, deray, rayed, yeard