impending

impending
impending, imminent are comparable when they mean very likely to occur soon or without further warning. Both retain in this sense some feeling of now rare or disused senses in which they essentially denote being physically elevated and hanging over or projecting as if about to fall and, as a result, tend to convey an ominous or portentous note
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impending doom

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imminent disaster

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Occasionally this feeling may be lacking and the words imply no more than the near futurity of the thing qualified
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the look of anticipation, of sweet, impending triumph— Weston

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the mounting heat of June warned us . . . that our departure was imminentRepplier

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Distinctively impending suggests that the thing likely to occur is foreshadowed far enough ahead to allow one time for worry and suspense or for aversive action
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at the sound of thunder we hurried in to avoid the impending storm

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worrying over his position in the impending reorganization of the company

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the country must swiftly prepare to defend itself against this impending economic rape— Walinsky

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Imminent usually implies greater immediacy and may suggest that the thing is on the point of happening
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thrown into sweats of suspicion that discovery was imminentMeredith

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we were in imminent danger of being swamped by the white-caps— London

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but imminent, unlike impending, may lose much or all of its suggestion of futurity and then attributes nearness in some other than temporal relation to the thing qualified
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they could hear the city, evocative and strange, imminent and remote; threat and promise both— Faulkner

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in matters where the national importance is imminent and direct even where Congress has been silent, the States may not act at all— Justice Holmes

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all that we had ever thought or felt for home was real again, made imminent and present by the arrival of the Fortresses— Skidmore

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Analogous words: *close, near, nigh: approaching, nearing (see APPROACH vb): likely, *probable: threatening, menacing (see THREATEN)

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • Impending — Im*pend ing, a. Hanging over; overhanging; suspended so as to menace; imminet; threatening. [1913 Webster] An impending brow. Hawthorne. [1913 Webster] And nodding Ilion waits th impending fall. Pope. Syn: Imminent; threatening. See {Imminent}.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • impending — I adjective about to happen, approaching, brewing, close, forthcoming, future, hanging, immediate, inevitable, in prospect, instant, in the offing, looming, near at hand, necessary, oncoming, pending, projecting, prospective, proximate, suspended …   Law dictionary

  • impending — [adj] forthcoming approaching, at hand, brewing, coming, gathering, handwritingon the wall*, hovering, imminent, in the cards*, in the offing*, in the wind*, looking to*, looming, menacing, near, nearing, ominous, on the horizon*, overhanging,… …   New thesaurus

  • impending — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ (especially of something bad or momentous) be about to happen. ORIGIN from Latin impendere overhang …   English terms dictionary

  • impending — im|pend|ing [ımˈpendıŋ] adj [Date: 1500 1600; : Latin; Origin: impendere to hang over , from pendere to hang ] an impending event or situation, especially an unpleasant one, is going to happen very soon impending danger/doom/death/disaster etc ▪… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • impending — im|pend|ing [ ım pendıŋ ] adjective only before noun an impending event or situation, especially an unpleasant one, is one that will happen very soon: He was unaware of the impending disaster. the impending elections …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • impending — [[t]ɪmpe̱ndɪŋ[/t]] ADJ: ADJ n An impending event is one that is going to happen very soon. [FORMAL] On the morning of the expedition I awoke with a feeling of impending disaster... He d spoken to Simon that morning of his impending marriage …   English dictionary

  • impending — adjective an impending event or situation, especially an unpleasant one, is going to happen very soon: I had a sense of impending doom. | an impending ecological crisis …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • impending — UK [ɪmˈpendɪŋ] / US adjective [only before noun] an impending event or situation, especially an unpleasant one, is one that will happen very soon He was unaware of the impending disaster. the impending elections …   English dictionary

  • impending — /im pen ding/, adj. 1. about to happen; imminent: their impending marriage. 2. imminently threatening or menacing: an impending storm. 3. Archaic. overhanging. [1675 85; IMPEND + ING2] Syn. 1. See imminent. * * * …   Universalium

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