immediate gratification
Pleasure without waiting
Immediate gratification is the desire to experience pleasure or fulfillment without delay, choosing a smaller reward now over a larger one later.
The term often carries negative connotations—implying impatience or lack of self-control: Social media feeds our need for immediate gratification.
The opposite is delayed gratification, associated with discipline and long-term thinking.
- instantBriefest unit of time
- impulseSudden urge to act
- cravingPowerful urge to have
- desireIntense wanting
- nowThe present moment
want · satisfaction · pleasure · indulgence · treat yourself · temptation · dopamine · sugar rush · sugar · fast food · instant noodles · scroll · doom scrolling · click · add to cart · buy now · buy · spend
- hedonismhedonism, pleasure, sensory pleasure, pleasure principle
- Cyrenaicshedonism, pleasure, bodily pleasure, sensory pleasure
immediate gratificationdelayed gratification
Postponing pleasure for benefit
patience · long-term thinking · waiting · long-term planning · forward thinking
immediate gratificationself-control
Ability to restrain impulses
self-discipline · impulse control · restraint · willpower · self-denial
immediate, immediately, immediacy, gratification, gratify, gratifying, gratified, grateful, gratitude