presently
- 1Before long; soon; after a short period of time.
The train will arrive presently, so let's wait here on the platform.
He assured the guests that dinner would be served presently.
Note
The storyteller's "soon" marks a short, unhurried interval, often at the start of a sentence: "Presently all was quiet again." Thomas Browne pairs it with after in 1646, and Robert W. Chambers's The Younger Set (1907) uses it to move a scene forward. Edna St. Vincent Millay's "I shall forget you presently" (1921) shows it with a future verb, which is the surest sign that soon is meant rather than the "now" meaning.
- 2At the present time; now; currently.
The committee is presently reviewing all of the submitted applications.
The towns and forts you presently have.
a. 1587, Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia]Oppositeformerly, previously
Note
Some usage advice faults the "now" reading, but it is far from new: Philip Sidney writes of "the towns and forts you presently have" before 1587. In practice, the verb settles which sense is meant. With a present or progressive verb (is presently reviewing), it means now. With a future verb it slides toward the "soon" meaning. When that ambiguity matters, currently or at the moment is the safer choice.
- 3Immediately; at once; without delay.
He bade his men presently saddle the horses for the journey.
And presently the fig tree withered away.
1611, The Holy Bible, King James VersionNote
Built from present + -ly, this is the word at its most urgent. When Polonius tells Hamlet "the queen would speak with you, and presently," he means now, not later. When the King James Bible of 1611 has the fig tree wither "presently," it happens on the spot. Read older texts with that urgency in mind. Today the sense is archaic and, where it survives at all, British and rare.
Less common meaning
- 4With actual presence; in actuality.
Note
Here present means being there, not happening now: the adverb describes something actually present or real, with no sense of time at all. Stephen Gardiner's 1545 letter to Thomas Smith and Matthew Parker uses it this way, and a modern reader can easily mistake it for a time word. The sense is obsolete, so recognize it in old texts but do not reach for it in new writing.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English presently, formed from present plus the suffix -ly.