Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Urgent, pressing: Describes a situation, need, or matter that requires immediate action or attention due to its critical importance.
   • Critical, emergent: Describes a state of tension or crisis that demands a swift response.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Đây là một nhu cầu cấp bách. (This is an urgent need.)
  • Tình hình y tế trở nên cấp bách. (The medical situation became critical.)
  • Chúng tôi nhận được một tin nhắn cấp bách. (We received an urgent message.)

Advanced Usage

• Used in formal, official, or military contexts to denote high priority.
  • Công văn cấp bách (an urgent dispatch/official document).
  • Họp khẩn cấp (an emergency meeting) is a common collocation where "khẩn cấp" is a near-synonym.

Variants and Related Words

• Khẩn cấp (adj): emergency, urgent. Often used interchangeably with "cấp bách," but can imply a slightly more immediate, sudden crisis.

  • Tình trạng khẩn cấp (state of emergency).

• Gấp rút (adj): rushed, hastened. Focuses on the speed of action taken in response to an urgent situation.

  • Công việc đang tiến hành gấp rút. (The work is proceeding urgently.)

Synonyms

• Urgent: requiring immediate action.
• Pressing: demanding prompt attention.
• Critical: of decisive importance; at a point of crisis.
• Imperative: absolutely necessary.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Tình thế cấp bách: a critical/urgent situation.

  • Trong tình thế cấp bách, mọi quyết định phải nhanh chóng. (In a critical situation, every decision must be swift.)

• Nhu cầu cấp bách: a pressing/urgent need.

  • Nước sạch là nhu cầu cấp bách sau thảm họa. (Clean water is a pressing need after the disaster.)

1. Urgent, pressing
   • đòi hỏi cấp bách
     an urgent requirement
2. Tense, requiring immediate attention
   • tình thế cấp bách
     a tense situation, an emergency