- in a short while; soon
- at the moment
- an archaic word for immediately
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
pres•ent•ly /ˈprɛzəntli/USA pronunciation
adv.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- in a little while;
soon:We'll be arriving presently—in, say, fifteen minutes. - at the present time;
now:Presently we have only three full-time ESL teachers.
pres•ent•ly
(prez′ənt lē),USA pronunciation adv.
- in a little while;
soon:They will be here presently. - at the present time;
now:He is presently out of the country. - [Archaic.]immediately.
- 1350–1400; Middle English; see present1, -ly
- 1. shortly, forthwith.
- 1. later.
- 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.''
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
presently /ˈprɛzəntlɪ/ adv
'presently' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
by and by
- ad hoc
- anymore
- by
- Cherokee
- Elgin marbles
- glottochronology
- gossypol
- immediately
- Mescalero
- Quechua
- visionary
- superimposed
- Swabia