Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb In a short time; soon.
- adverb Usage Problem At this time or period; now.
- adverb Archaic At once; immediately.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In presence; personally; actually.
- At present; now; at the time spoken of.
- Immediately; by and by; in a little time; soon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb obsolete At present; at this time; now.
- adverb At once; without delay; forthwith; also, less definitely, soon; shortly; before long; after a little while; by and by.
- adverb obsolete With actual presence; actually .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb obsolete With actual
presence ; inactuality .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb in the near future
- adverb at this time or period; now
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Though his name presently escapes me, he introduced himself and told me about the sudden reassignment to the 000 level of the stadium.
One Season William Fredrick Cooper 2011
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Though his name presently escapes me, he introduced himself and told me about the sudden reassignment to the 000 level of the stadium.
One Season William Fredrick Cooper 2011
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Beyond this presently is a little glade, the loveliest in Sussex; in spring it is patterned with primroses, and windflowers shake their fragile bells and show their silver stars above them.
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Beyond this presently is a little glade, the loveliest in Sussex; in spring it is patterned with primroses, and windflowers shake their fragile bells and show their silver stars above them.
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It may well be that what we are most needful of presently is neither more wars nor more laws, but more prudence in the making ofboth.
The Volokh Conspiracy » So a Libertarian and a Liberal Walk into a Bar 2010
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He presently is on a “mystery” assignment in the Bayou City.
Think Progress » DeMint Appeases Beck On McCain, Threatens To Be His ‘Biggest Opponent’ 2010
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So the yes, very sudden mass hysteria & violent rank hatreds being whipped up by various forces in this 'debate' presently is stuff we've largely not seen for almost 40-50 years.
Heads up staffers, tips to avoid a Health Care "Town Hell" (Blog for Democracy) 2009
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What we are seeing presently is the inevitable fall-out from a global economy that, as yet, has not developed any coordinated international governance to correct market failures.
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China, presently, is second, with 979 kilometers of total track.
Matthew Yglesias » Mass Transit is As American as Apple Pie 2010
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Spain presently holds the presidency of the EU Council of Ministers and there has been a meeting in Madrid between members of the EU Parliament and members of the US Congress (one of those summer junkets for legislators) and on the margins of that meeting the Spanish Foreign Minister said: -
tomsteele commented on the word presently
It means soon, not currently.
December 24, 2006
slumry commented on the word presently
A contranym, or at least a near-contranym. It was banned altogether in one of my expository writing classes on the grounds that it is ambiguous, meaning either "currently" or "soon"
At the risk of tedium, here is a portion of the note from RHD:
"The sense of 'At the present time; now' dates back to the 15th century. . .the sense 'soon' arose gradually during the 16th century...Strangely, it is the older sense 'now' that is sometimes objected to in useage guides. The two senses are rarely if ever confused in actual practice..."
So there, Mrs. Whatshername; I can once again say "presently" without fear of knucke-rapping.
June 29, 2007
seanahan commented on the word presently
I assume momentarily was banned as well? It means both "in a moment" (soon) and "for a moment" (currently).
June 30, 2007
slumry commented on the word presently
That's a good question. I had not thought about it. The truth is, all that I remember of the class is that we were not allowed to use the word presently. Not now, not ever. But I am presently using it, and I shall use it again presently. Presently. I feel so much better now.
June 30, 2007
qroqqa commented on the word presently
I can't see how the two main senses could be confused. The sense "now, at present" normally occurs with a continuous or atelic verb construction, as in 'I am presently reading that book' or 'Elizabeth is presently to be found disporting in the otter-strewn thoroughfares of Hammersmith'; whereas the sense "in a wee while" goes with telic constructions such as 'I'll be with you presently' or 'The gate was opened, and presently entered two horsemen.' I suspect it would be hard to construct a natural and ambiguous sentence.
I used to think the "at present" sense came from a blending of 'at present' with 'currently' of same meaning, but no, it's got a pedigree that goes back to Chaucer. It was just disapproved of for a while.
March 19, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word presently
I think I should have loved you presently,
And given in earnest words I flung in jest;
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnet II from A Few Figs from Thistles
I shall forget you presently, my dear,
So make the most of this, your little day,
—Sonnet IV, ib.
March 20, 2009