instantly
Etymology Pronunciation
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Etymology Pronunciation
- (British) IPA: /ˈɪnstəntli/
instantly (not comparable)
- At once; without delay. [from 16th c.]
- When the neighbours' dog barked, ours instantly replied with a howl.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
- Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
(archaic) Urgently; with insistence. [from 15th c.] - c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 27, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC ↗:
- Theoxena although she were instantly urged thereunto, could never be induced to marry againe.
- (obsolete) At the same time.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
- As if he mastred there a double spirit
Of teaching, and of learning instantly
- (at once; without delay) immediately, instantaneously
- French: instantanément
- German: unmittelbar
- Portuguese: instantaneamente
- Russian: сра́зу
- Spanish: al instante, al hilo, al tiro, instantáneamente
- French: instamment
- As soon as, directly.
- I phoned instantly I heard you were back.
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
