presently
Americanadverb
-
in a little while; soon.
They will be here presently.
- Antonyms:
- later
-
at the present time; now.
He is presently out of the country.
-
Archaic. immediately.
adverb
-
in a short while; soon
-
at the moment
-
an archaic word for immediately
Usage
The two apparently contradictory meanings of presently, “in a little while, soon” and “at the present time, now,” are both old in the language. In the latter meaning presently dates back to the 15th century. It is currently in standard use in all varieties of speech and writing in both Great Britain and the United States. The sense “soon” arose gradually during the 16th century. Strangely, it is the older sense “now” that is sometimes objected to by usage guides. The two senses are rarely if ever confused in actual practice. Presently meaning “now” is most often used with the present tense ( The professor is presently on sabbatical leave ) and presently meaning “soon” often with the future tense ( The supervisor will be back presently ). The semantic development of presently parallels that of anon, which first had the meaning, now archaic, of “at once, immediately,” but later came to mean “soon.”
Synonym Usage
See immediately
Etymology
Origin of presently
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at present 1, -ly
Compare meaning
How does presently compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
The adverb presently means "very soon." If you tell your sister that you'll be at her house presently, you mean that you're on your way. You might say that the cookies you just put in the oven will be done presently, or describe how you were so sleepy last night that you opened a book and presently fell asleep, before you could read a single page. Presently also means "right now," as when you say that the temperature outside is presently thirty degrees. This is the older of the two meanings — a fourteenth-century sense of "at present" gradually changed to include "sooner or later."
Vocabulary lists containing presently
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Fences
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“The southern Omani corridor cannot presently be considered a reliably protected transit route,” said Dimitris Maniatis, founder and CEO of maritime-risk company Marisks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Many same-sex couples provide loving and nurturing homes to their children, whether biological or adopted. And hundreds of thousands of children are presently being raised by such couples.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
It's an accolade and source of huge pride for those presently and formerly associated to the club.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
She chose the safe one, even though she doesn’t presently reside in it.
From Slate ● May 30, 2026
She held the firewood up high to protect it, and presently she came up the other side and hurried toward the cook-fires beyond the trees.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
