# at once

Pronunciation: US say "uht WUNS" /ət ˈwʌns/; UK/AUS say "uht-WUNS" /ət ˈwʌns/

## Adverb

1. Without any delay; right now rather than at some later time.
   - Simple: Right now, without waiting even a little while.
   - _The manager read the complaint and at once offered the customer a full refund._
   - _If the patient's fever keeps rising overnight, call the clinic at once._
2. At the same time, so that two or more things happen or are true together rather than one after another.
   - Simple: At the same time, together, not one after the other.
   - _Her new novel is at once funny and deeply unsettling._
   - _The juggler kept five clubs in the air at once while balancing on a narrow board._

## Adverb

3. All together, forming a single group rather than acting separately. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: All together in one group, not apart or one by one.

## Origin

Formed from the words "at" and "once".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/at-once (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).