‘Eminent’ and ‘Imminent’
- (a)‘Eminent’ means important and famous, and ‘imminent’ means something about to happen
- (b)‘Eminent’ means something unpleasant about to happen, and ‘imminent’ means important and famous person
- (c)‘Eminent’ means important and famous person, and ‘imminent’ means inherent or existing within
- (d)‘Eminent’ means inherent or existing within, and ‘imminent’ means something about to happen
Correct — A, ‘Eminent’ means important and famous, and ‘imminent’ means something about to happen. An eminent scientist stands out above her peers; an imminent storm is one that will break at any moment. One word ranks a person, the other times an event.
- (b)‘Eminent’ means something unpleasant about to happen, and ‘imminent’ means important and famous person — The halves are reversed, and adding ‘unpleasant’ does not rescue it — imminent, not eminent, names what is about to happen.
- (c)‘Eminent’ means important and famous person, and ‘imminent’ means inherent or existing within — Inherent or existing within is the meaning of a third word, immanent, which the booklet never prints.
- (d)‘Eminent’ means inherent or existing within, and ‘imminent’ means something about to happen — Eminent is given immanent's meaning, so only the gloss for imminent is right.
Three near-identical words sit behind this item: eminent (distinguished), imminent (about to happen) and immanent (inherent, dwelling within). The paper prints two of them and builds its wrong options out of the third.
The prefixes do the work. Eminent joins e-, meaning out, to a Latin root for projecting, so an eminent person stands out. Imminent joins in-, meaning over, to the same root, so an imminent event hangs over you. Tie eminent to a person and imminent to an event and the item resolves itself.
- Eminent and imminent share the Latin root minere, to project or overhang.
- Immanent comes from a different root, manere, to remain, and belongs mainly to philosophy and theology.
- The doctrine of eminent domain, under which the state acquires private land for a public purpose, uses eminent in its older sense of superior or overriding.
- Picking an option because it adds a plausible extra word such as unpleasant.
- Reading immanent as imminent when a single letter separates them.
Asked as a paired-words item — pick the option that defines both words correctly.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Fill in the blank with the correct word. Dark clouds gathered and a downpour seemed __________.
- (a)eminent
- (b)imminent
- (c)immanent
- (d)prominent
Answer(b) imminent — about to happen.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which sentence uses both words correctly?
- (a)An eminent historian warned that a crisis was imminent.
- (b)An imminent historian warned that a crisis was eminent.
- (c)An immanent historian warned that a crisis was eminent.
- (d)An eminent historian warned that a crisis was immanent.
Answer(a) An eminent historian warned that a crisis was imminent — distinguished person, impending event.