He also downplayed recent evidence over the summer that showed slightly less acute price pressures. “They do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved,” he said. Moreover, he suggested that with the labor market “quite stable” and inflation running above target, “the Fed’s predominant focus right now should be on prices.”

Mr. Warsh stopped short of endorsing a rate increase if the data do not comply, in keeping with his opposition to providing guidance about what the Fed might do next. But his colleagues have been more direct about their thinking.

Earlier this week, two top officials conveyed a different sense of urgency around raising rates.

Michael S. Barr, a Fed governor, expressed concern about “broader price pressures taking hold” and said that if inflation did not soon ease, he would support the Fed taking action.

“If trends in the data give me some confidence that inflation is moderating on a path to 2 percent, then I think we can take a bit more time to assess our policy stance,” Mr. Barr said in speech in Washington on Tuesday. “However, if inflation appears not to be moderating sufficiently, then I think we should act decisively to raise rates.”

A day later, John C. Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, indicated that it was still an open question whether a rate increase was necessary later this month. He emphasized that much of what had lifted inflation were temporary factors, such as tariffs, whose impact is starting to fade.

“There’s no clear signs right now whether monetary policy currently is sufficient to make sure we bring inflation back to target in the next year or two, or whether you need to see further action to do that,” Mr. Wiliams, who is the vice chair of the policy-setting committee, said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.