pressing

pressing: pressing adj Pressing, urgent, imperative, crying, importunate, insistent, exigent, instant are comparable when they mean demanding or claiming attention and especially immediate attention.

Pressing often implies directly or indirectly the use of pressure by persons in calling for immediate attention to their wishes

{
managed to pay his most pressing debts
}

{
without ever subordinating his high ideals to the pressing demands of popular opinion— Cohen
}

but it may also imply, without reference to personal agents, a claim to quick attention which cannot be denied

{
it was business of the most pressing importance which had brought them— Doyle
}

{
it would be a great mistake for a government to concern themselves only with short-term problems, pressing as these are— Attlee
}

Urgent is stronger than pressing and places greater stress upon the constraint or compulsion of attention (as by a vehement urging), and it also usually connotes the need of promptness (as in replying, considering, or relieving)

{
an urgent telegram
}

{
the urgent needs of the war— Cos tain
}

{
the more power the people are given the more urgent becomes the need for some rational and well-informed superpower to dominate them— Shaw
}

{
if human ingenuity fails in an urgent task, fate may take a hand— Buchan
}

Imperative (see also MASTERFUL) stresses the obligatory nature of a task, need, or duty, but it also usually implies that immediate attention is essential

{
I feel it my imperative duty to warn you
}

{
a remonstrance had be-come imperative— Butler d. 1902
}

{
military necessity makes it imperative that the bridge should be blown up— Peter Forster
}

Crying stresses the demand for attention but adds the implication of the extreme or shocking con- spicuousness of the need

{
an organizer of genius in a day when order and discipline were the crying needs— Malone
}

{
our crying need is for more blood donors
}

Importunate carries a strong implication of pertinacity in demanding or claiming attention; often therefore it is applied to persons or to their acts

{
an importunate beggar
}

{
an importunate knocking at a door
}

{
when people are importunate, and will not go away when asked, they had better come in— Shaw
}

but it is also much used in reference to impersonal matters (as problems or difficulties) which persistently and naggingly make claims upon one's full and immediate attention

{
the demands of the dance becoming . . . too importunate for a divided attention— Austen
}

{
it is a work which ought to be studied by anyone to whom the relation of Church and State is an actual and importunate problem— T. S. Eliot
}

Like importunate, insistent basically implies a quality of persons, that of insisting or maintaining or asserting persistently

{
how continual and insistent is the cry for characters that can be worshiped— Galsworthy
}

{
de Vaca was insistent, and Charles approached the table— Hergesheimer
}

and it too is often used in reference to a quality which enforces attention by its perseverance or compels it by obtruding itself upon one's consciousness

{
an insistent noise
}

{
an insistent voice
}

{
the insistent odor of fertilizer— Amer. Guide Series: Md.
}

{
we who read poetry are ridden and haunted by no such insistent problem— Lowes
}

Exigent implies less a demand for immediate attention than one for action (as by way of giving assistance or settling problems); nevertheless the term comes very close to urgent or pressing in its emphasis on the exacting or the imperative nature of that demand

{
that exigent cry for help— Clarendon
}

{
demands upon him had never been exigent before. He had selected a course of life which required only easy and congenial effort— S. H. Adams
}

Instant may come very close to urgent and like it often implies a temporal pressure; distinctively it may suggest perseverance or the need of perseverance

{
rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer— Rom 12:12
}

{
I thought there was not such instant haste— Scott
}

{
the single-hearted force of him who sees the instant need— Buchan
}

{
the need to study precision in writing has grown far more instant since men of science have abandoned the "universal language"— Quiller— Couch
}

Analogous words: immediate, *direct: demanding, claiming, requiring, exacting (see DEMAND): compelling, constraining, forcing, obliging (see FORCE)

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Synonyms:

Urgent, importunate, constraining, distressing

Look at other dictionaries:

pressing — [ presiŋ ] n. m. • v. 1935; mot angl. « action de presser », de to press « presser » ♦ Anglic. 1 ♦ Établissement où l on nettoie les vêtements et où on les repasse à la vapeur. ⇒ teinturerie. 2 ♦ (1949) Repassage à la vapeur. Appos. Fer pressing… … Encyclopédie Universelle
Pressing — Game oder zu deutsch Druckspiel, ist eine spieltaktische Variante im Sport. Pressing nennt man das (kurzzeitige, längere oder ständige) Anrennen auf das Tor des Gegners, woran sich außer dem Torhüter alle Mannschaftsteile wechselseitig beteiligen … Deutsch Wikipedia
Pressing — Press ing, a. Urgent; exacting; importunate; as, a pressing necessity. {Press ing*ly}, adv. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
pressing — [pres′iŋ] adj. [prp. of PRESS1] 1. calling for immediate attention; urgent 2. persistent in request or demand; insistent n. 1. the process or an instance of stamping, squeezing, etc. with a press 2. the result of this, often a series or one of a… … English World dictionary
pressing — I adjective acute, cogent, compelling, compulsory, constraining, critical, crucial, demanded, demanding, driving, essential, exacting, exigent, forceful, grave, high priority, impelling, imperative, important, importunate, indispensable, major,… … Law dictionary
pressing — → presión, 1 … Diccionario panhispánico de dudas
pressing — (adj.) exerting pressure, mid 14c., prp. adjective from PRESS (Cf. press) (v.1). Sense of urgent, compelling, forceful is from 1705 … Etymology dictionary
pressing — [adj] important; urgent acute, burning, claiming, clamant, clamorous, compelling, constraining, critical, crucial, crying, demanding, dire, distressing, exacting, exigent, forcing, heat on*, high priority, hurry up*, immediate, imperative,… … New thesaurus
pressing — {{/stl 13}}{{stl 8}}rz. mnż IIa, D. u, sport. {{/stl 8}}{{stl 7}} w niektórych zespołowych grach sportowych: rodzaj agresywnego krycia stosowany przez zawodników w celu przeszkadzania przeciwnikowi w swobodnym wychodzeniu na pozycję, a także w… … Langenscheidt Polski wyjaśnień
pressing — ► ADJECTIVE 1) requiring quick or immediate action or attention. 2) expressing something strongly or persistently. ► NOUN ▪ an object made by moulding under pressure … English terms dictionary

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