shortly

adverb

Form of short , adverb of short.

Simple meaning

In a concise manner.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

shawrtlee

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈʃɔɹtli

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adverb

In a short or brief time or manner; quickly.
“He was at the airport shortly before she was expected to arrive.”
At a short distance
“The hem fell shortly below her knees.”
In or after a short time; soon.
In a concise manner; in a few words
In an irritable ("short") manner.
In a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: In a short or brief time or manner; quickly.

Used this way, shortly is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence

“He was at the airport shortly before she was expected to arrive.”

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

presently , used mainly in Regional English

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use shortly

“He was at the airport shortly before she was expected to arrive.”adverb

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

shortly seeshortly becomeshortly come

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

briefly
For a short time.
soon
Within a short time; quickly.
not far
At a short distance.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

shortadjectiveBase word
Primarily temporal sense.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

shortnessnounDerived noun
The property of being of short spatial extent.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: in a short or brief time or manner

soon

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.