Link Centre Dictionary

shortly

US/ˈʃɔɹtli/ common

adverb

1.

for a short time

  • “he was at the airport shortly before she was expected to arrive”
Synonyms
2.

in the near future

  • “the doctor will soon be here”
  • “the book will appear shortly”
  • “she will arrive presently”
  • “we should have news before long”
Synonyms
3.

in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner

  • “he told me curtly to get on with it”
  • “he talked short with everyone”
  • “he said shortly that he didn”
Synonyms
4.

in a concise manner; in a few words

  • “the history is summed up concisely in this book”
  • “she replied briefly”
  • “briefly, we have a problem”
  • “to put it shortly”
Synonyms
5.

at a short distance

  • “the hem fell shortly below her knees”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English schortly, schortliche, from Old English sċortlīċe (“shortly; before long; soon”), equivalent to short + -ly.

Related words

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.