adverb
-
in a short time; soon
-
in a few words; briefly
-
in a curt or rude manner
Etymology
Origin of shortly
First recorded before 900; Middle English schortly, Old English scortlīce; see short, -ly
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.
She abandoned an appeal against her sentence shortly before Thursday's hearing.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Pierpaolo Piccioli will leave the house, the French group said Thursday, with new creative direction to be announced shortly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
It also happens to be a key player in one of my favorite semi-homemade chicken sandwiches, which we’ll get to shortly.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
Police received a call to perform a welfare check at the apartment in the 100 block of Los Aguajes Avenue shortly after 9:30 p.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Members of the coroner’s inquest, along with the county prosecutor, continued investigating Anna’s death, and shortly after Anna’s burial Mollie went to give evidence at a hearing in Fairfax.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
