 The word IMMEDIATE marks the most recent colon definition as an immediate word , effectively replacing its compilation semantics with its interpretation semantics . Immediate words are normally executed during compilation , not compiled but this can be overridden by the programmer , in either state . ; is an example of an immediate word . In ANS Forth , the word POSTPONE takes a name as a parameter and appends the compilation semantics of the named word to the current definition even if the word was marked immediate . Forth @-@ 83 defined separate words COMPILE and [ COMPILE ] to force the compilation of non @-@ immediate and immediate words , respectively . 
