urgentur‧gent /ˈɜːdʒənt $ ˈɜːr-/ ●●○ S3 adjective 
He was in urgent need of medical attention. The report called for urgent action to reduce lead in petrol. an urgent message2formal done or said in a way that shows that you want something to be dealt with immediately: an urgent whisper—urgently adverbCOLLOCATIONSnounsan urgent need· There is an urgent need for stricter regulation.urgent action· Urgent action is needed to boost employment.urgent attention· She believes the nation’s drug problem requires urgent attention.an urgent message· I have an urgent message for Sam – where is he?an urgent meeting· Health chiefs have called an urgent meeting to discuss the problem.urgent talks· The union is seeking urgent talks with management on this matter.urgent business· Nenna told them that she had urgent business on the other side of London.an urgent task/job· I’ve got some urgent tasks to finish before I leave tonight.an urgent problem· It’s an urgent problem, and needs tackling straight away.
WORD ORIGINurgent
Origin:
1400-1500 Old French, Latin, present participle of urgere; ➔ URGE1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- urgent news
- An international effort is required to cope with the urgent needs of the earthquake victims.
- I've got one or two urgent letters to write.
- Your sister's been calling -- I think it's urgent.
- A drastic overhaul of land-ownership and farming is urgent.
- Earlier this year Aberconwy Community Health Council called for urgent action to tackle the situation.
- If anything appears urgent from an operations standpoint, put it through to him.
- Of more urgent concern is the international dimension.
- She supposed she could fit it in, if it really was urgent.
- The thousands of visitors to the excavations have shown there is an urgent need to make the site into an archaeological park.
Longman Language Activatormost important
· This was possibly the most important scientific discovery of the 20th century.· For Muslims, this is the most important day of the year.· If there is a fire, the most important thing is to get all the students out of the building immediately.
the most important thing, which needs to be dealt with before anything else or given more attention than anything else: · First, let's decide what our priorities are.· My main priority is get through all my exams.first/top/number one priority: · Safety has always been our number one priority.give priority to something (=decide that something is very important, and deal with it urgently): · The President promised to give priority to reducing unemployment.
something that is urgent must be dealt with or done as soon as possible, especially because something very bad could happen if it is not: · I've got one or two urgent letters to write.· Your sister's been calling -- I think it's urgent.· An international effort is required to cope with the urgent needs of the earthquake victims.
to be the most important and urgent of all the things that have to be done, especially by a government or company: · Getting inflation down is at the top of the agenda.· The government were reluctant to put equal pay for women anywhere near the top of the agenda.
if someone or something takes precedence over someone or something else, they are more important and need to be dealt with first: · Don't keep Mr Rawlings waiting, he takes precedence over any other client.· Once again, the leader's wishes have taken precedence over the students' demands.
: overriding need/concern/consideration etc the thing that is most important and must be dealt with before anything else: · The overriding need here is to end the civil war.· an overriding concern to secure business efficiency
more important than anything else: · The patients' wishes and needs are paramount and they must always come before our own.· While some musical ability is necessary, it is not the paramount concern.of paramount importance: · Public safety and security are matters of paramount importance.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYnouns a document marked ‘confidential’
· There is an urgent need for stricter regulation.
· Urgent action is needed to boost employment.
· She believes the nation’s drug problem requires urgent attention.
· I have an urgent message for Sam – where is he?
· Health chiefs have called an urgent meeting to discuss the problem.
· The union is seeking urgent talks with management on this matter.
· Nenna told them that she had urgent business on the other side of London.
· I’ve got some urgent tasks to finish before I leave tonight.
· It’s an urgent problem, and needs tackling straight away.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES (=that needs to be done immediately)· The Opposition called for urgent action to reduce unemployment.
· The fire service has made an urgent appeal for more part-time firefighters.
· I can’t talk now – I have an urgent appointment to get to.
· I would be grateful if you would give this matter urgent consideration.
a document marked ‘confidential’ (=something that needs to be dealt with quickly)
· The Council has called an emergency meeting to decide what action to take.
· an urgent message for the commanding officer
(=one that must be dealt with quickly)· The most urgent need was for more teachers.
· He sees these negotiations as an urgent priority.
· More than £40,000 is needed for urgent repairs to the tower.
· The family made an urgent request on television for help in finding their daughter.
· The prime minister called ministers together for urgent talks.
· ‘Daddy!’ he said in an urgent whisper.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Hence criteria to regulate and deploy their use become increasingly urgent.· I have an increasingly urgent desire to move altogether elsewhere.· Our Government's own advisers concur, and have been uttering increasingly urgent exhortations for change.· The increasingly urgent political situation at home and abroad gave Marxism an appropriate context.· But if Alabama's leaders have scarcely evolved, its problems are increasingly urgent.· The need to tackle and solve the energy problem is becoming increasingly urgent.
· The Origins of School to Work Twenty years ago, the need to connect school and work was less urgent.· However it was reported that member countries considered oil and energy problems less urgent than in the past.· More recently, the demand for fast breeder reactors has seemed less urgent as worldwide supplies of uranium have become more plentiful.
· Seldom has the time been more appropriate or the need more urgent for a Bill of this kind.· Once the team arrived, the signs quickly grew more urgent.· Recognition that market provision is preferred makes the socialist project more urgent.· Their looks were more urgent, even less forgiving.· The need for cash has never been more urgent.· Having nothing more urgent to do, I decided to seek out Tip Anderson.· There was nothing more urgent than making him happy.
· The most urgent requirement was food.· By far the most urgent is that of nuclear weapons.· That's the biggest and most urgent task facing the restorers, a company from Hay on Wye.· The Civil War had been fought in the main in the borderlands, precisely where the national question was at its most urgent.· That morning seemed endless as we waited for an ambulance to transport the most urgent cases to the hospital.· One of the most urgent measures is a blanket ban on all animal and bone meal in animal feed.· The most urgent thing was to find him, and then to check on the extent of the damage.
· He wondered what it could be that was so urgent, and why he hadn't mentioned it yesterday over lunch.· But so urgent was getting the planer working that this time Taylor yielded.· But they won't have explained why it's so urgent.· He wondered why it was so urgent for her to see him that night and told himself he would soon know.· Besides, it is not quite so urgent as I thought.· Why are you so urgent to get away from your husband's house and back to your father's?
· I think people live very urgent lives.· Production for the sake of the goods produced is no longer very urgent.· I've a very urgent message for you from Mr Norris.· George, I just realized I must make a very urgent call to the States.· The neighbours did get the work done eventually - when their son arrived - in answer to a very urgent summons from his parents.· After mass he has a cantata sung, during which he sometimes dispatches very urgent business.· But Eva had to keep them away from him, saying if it was very urgent they could leave a note.
NOUN· The report was criticised for not calling for urgent action to reduce lead in petrol.· At a special meeting with the minister, an all-party delegation from the capital's boroughs will press for urgent action.· Earlier this year Aberconwy Community Health Council called for urgent action to tackle the situation.· Change tack immediately and take urgent action to get some talented protégés into your fast lane.· But the law-abiding people of Dundalk agree urgent action needs to be taken.· After 10 years nothing had happened, so in 1968 the Institute of Trademarks Agents called for urgent action.· Occasionally, severe shocks will rock the system and urgent action will be needed.· Also alleging rape and torture, Amnesty urged the government to take urgent action against the security forces.
· The urgent appeal won the hearts and minds of all who love and know Snowdon, and the response has been incredible.· Mrs Earley's grand-daughter Mandy made an urgent appeal to council housing officers.· Two sawn-off shotguns were found nearby, and detectives are making an urgent appeal for information.
· Joint accounts and shared monies need urgent attention.· The First Lady had an upcoming swing through four cities that required my urgent attention.· These measurements, which will show trends in energy use, identify areas needing urgent attention.· Please would you give this matter your urgent attention.· It's the most obvious sign of the serious defects that need urgent attention.· Will the Minister pay more urgent attention to the problem?· I find they continually jam - ludicrous on the garment of this price and an area needing urgent attention by the manufacturers.· Both these studies highlight issues that needed urgent attention from policy and practice.
· You go and tell the Mamur Zapt that there is urgent business at the river.· Very urgent business which he'd been putting off.· Officials in their variety of blue uniforms hurried to and fro on urgent business.· This was the urgent business she'd spoken of to Silvia.· He must have some urgent business with the monks to make this cold, lonely journey.· But, desperately uncertain about my future employment, I was very soon making it my urgent business to find out.· After mass he has a cantata sung, during which he sometimes dispatches very urgent business.
· I was going to an urgent call - certainly not spying.· George, I just realized I must make a very urgent call to the States.· One even refused to respond to an urgent call from a nurse two days before Mrs Craig died.· Since the urgent call to his small London house just after dawn the previous day, he had not stopped working.
· An initial sum of £2m will be put into the more urgent cases, he said, with more to follow.· When I made him more comfortable, I went across to the other hall to attend to an urgent case.· The hospital is now insisting that hi-tec scans will be available in all urgent cases.· Local people are left waiting while less urgent cases from outside the district are treated because they bring money in with them.· That morning seemed endless as we waited for an ambulance to transport the most urgent cases to the hospital.· Had he decided not to come after all or was he out on an urgent case?· And health watchdogs think the money could be better spent on more urgent cases.
· I know that my right hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor-General is giving urgent consideration to the matter.
· Are these sums too little or too much, in the face of other urgent demands for the money?
· I have an increasingly urgent desire to move altogether elsewhere.· Years of repression now fuel an urgent desire for independence.
· The committee made no comment but as far as can be ascertained, no action was taken; more urgent matters required attention.· For the moment, there are more urgent matters to be put in hand.· The minister gets waylaid by members of the congregation who want to discuss urgent matters or exchange pleasantries.· Everyone looked at everyone else and thought of urgent matters to attend to elsewhere.· The Leader of the House should make time next week for this urgent matter to be discussed.
· But he has been right in saying that urgent measures have been put off for too long.· One of the most urgent measures is a blanket ban on all animal and bone meal in animal feed.
· He had asked for an urgent meeting with Rakovsky to discuss the report and get instructions.· In the wake of the Daily Post revelations, health chiefs have called an urgent meeting to discuss the matter.· Buckinghamshire's Education Chairman now wants an urgent meeting with the Government Minister responsible.· He asked for an urgent meeting with Colonel Easterhouse.· Jan's needed for an urgent meeting tomorrow.
· He wasn't all that sorry to find an urgent message from Headquarters that meant leaving the glutinous pasta.· This is an urgent message for Celestine Price.· There is no pattern to the way they bring their urgent message.· The amazonian flow of colors, signals, urgent messages that had been besieging their brains since birth evaporated.· He - er - received an urgent message to return to his yacht.· I've a very urgent message for you from Mr Norris.· Example 3 An urgent message is received for a guest, Mrs Jones.· I was present when he left the hotel last evening after an urgent message recalling him to Osborne House.
· Policies which address such issues are an urgent necessity.· Plans, in fact, had become an urgent necessity.· The future demands for knowledge on this subject means more research is a real and urgent necessity.
· Roughly half the children who are adopted feel an urgent need to discover their origins.· Yet at the same time he offers the black underclass, and its more urgent needs, little more than benign neglect.· There is, therefore, a real and urgent need to improve the housing conditions of the elderly.· There is an urgent need for publishing to reflect that change of perspective.· The Maud Report considered there was urgent need for reform and change within local government.· Severe urgency was defined as an urgent need to defecate which has to be relieved in less than one minute to avoid incontinence.· Right and proper, I decide, for spiritual insurance is an urgent need here.
· They argue that, given the pressure on defence budgets everywhere, there are more urgent priorities.· Given the concentration of the workforce in the middle age groups, policies aimed at retaining these workers are an urgent priority.· The most urgent priority, he insists, is to bring Mr Milosevic before a court in Belgrade.
· But there are even more urgent problems.· He said that often important maintenance problems are put off until they create urgent problems.· But she recognized that the most urgent problem in the countryside was the lack of trained district nurses.· They needed an immediate solution for an urgent problem.· We are anxious to see the urgent problem tackled at once.· The outbreak of a new war made defence against chemical warfare agents once again an urgent problem.
· As hard times turn to iron times this is an urgent question.· For most people though, the disappearance of the Wall has raised rather more urgent questions questions.· Maybe a more urgent question is how households are reorganising their economic activities as old industrial structures are modified by long-term change.· The war intervened with the result that this urgent question was postponed for the time being.
· More than £40,000 is needed to carry out urgent repairs to the tower.· Airstrips, roads and bridges need urgent repair for the agencies to be able to reach people.· Not until 1926 did servicing catch up with urgent repair needs.
· The floor around the wastepaper basket was littered with paper aeroplanes made out of urgent requests from various City officials.· I hurried to the Adjutant and he opened it to find an urgent request for a volunteer to serve in Southern Arabia.
· During 1978 it became apparent that the existing methods of storing and handling personnel information were inadequate and in need of urgent review.· In the report, Amnesty called for an urgent review of the guidelines under which troops were permitted to open fire.· Scientists have called for an urgent review of recently set government safety limits which are now thought to be inadequate.
· For the moment, he obviously has more urgent tasks than writing plays.· Finding new structures to manage the recurrences is an urgent task.· The effect has been so many priorities and urgent tasks to change the meaning and the effect of the concept.· That's the biggest and most urgent task facing the restorers, a company from Hay on Wye.· The urgent task is to stop it crashing altogether.· This is an urgent task, because people know once the cholera comes, the poor communities will suffer.· Her most urgent task was to arrange interviews with all the students to whom she was tutor.· The most urgent task is replacing ledgers and pencils with a management-information system that allows the head office to monitor risk.
· Roberta's low urgent voice, Faye's tittering, high laugh.· He sped away back to the car and we could hear his urgent voice, though not the words.
WORD FAMILYnounurgencyadjectiveurgentadverburgently
1very important and needing to be dealt with immediately: He was in urgent need of medical attention. The report called for urgent action to reduce lead in petrol. an urgent message2formal done or said in a way that shows that you want something to be dealt with immediately: an urgent whisper—urgently adverbCOLLOCATIONSnounsan urgent need· There is an urgent need for stricter regulation.urgent action· Urgent action is needed to boost employment.urgent attention· She believes the nation’s drug problem requires urgent attention.an urgent message· I have an urgent message for Sam – where is he?an urgent meeting· Health chiefs have called an urgent meeting to discuss the problem.urgent talks· The union is seeking urgent talks with management on this matter.urgent business· Nenna told them that she had urgent business on the other side of London.an urgent task/job· I’ve got some urgent tasks to finish before I leave tonight.an urgent problem· It’s an urgent problem, and needs tackling straight away.