# immediately

Pronunciation: say "i-MEE-dee-uht-lee" /ɪˈmiːdi.ətli/

## Adverb

1. At once, without any delay or pause.
   - Simple: Right away, with no waiting or delay.
   - _The manager responded immediately to the customer's complaint._
   - _When the alarm sounded, everyone immediately left the building._
2. With no space or time coming in between.
   - Simple: With nothing in between, in space or in time.
   - _Her seat was immediately to the left of the stage._
   - _The two events followed immediately one after the other._
4. In a direct way, with no other person or thing in between, especially regarding who is responsible for something or who it affects.
   - Simple: Directly, with nobody or nothing in between, often about who is in charge or who is affected.
   - _The shift supervisor is immediately responsible for safety on the factory floor._
   - _The new rules will matter most to the workers immediately concerned, not to the company as a whole._

## Conjunction

3. At the moment that something happens; as soon as it occurs.
   - Simple: At the very moment something happens, or as soon as it does.
   - _Immediately the doors opened, the shoppers poured into the store._
   - _He apologized immediately he realized his mistake._

## Origin

Already found in Middle English as immediatly: the adjective immediate with the suffix -ly added.

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