immanent \I-meh-nehnt\ (adjective) - 1 : Permanently in-dwelling, inherent. 2 : Mental, subjective, residing in the mind only. Antonym: transcendent "beyond human knowledge."

"Steven felt that he might be guilty of an immanent affection for his best friend's wife, Sallie, as he was certain that his affection's target was unaware of his feelings."

There are three words in English very similar in pronunciation and spelling that are frequently confused: today's word "immanent," "imminent," and "eminent." Imminent means "impending, verging on occurrence" as an imminent thunderstorm, while eminent means "prominent, outstanding or standing out above others" as an "eminent peak" or an "eminent logician." Late Latin immanent-em, the present participle of immanere "to dwell within" from im- "in" + manere "to dwell, remain." The word was introduced in the 13th century to distinguish between Aristotelian doing, an internal mental act, like thinking, and making, which has some effect on the outside world, such as writing a poem. The former were called "immanent acts" while the latter were called "transient" or "transitive acts." Applied to the concept of a singular God, it refers to whether God pervades the universe or was an external or transcendent creator of it who resides outside of it. The same Latin stem is also found in "mansion," "permanent" and "remain."