soon
pronunciation
How to pronounce soon in British English:
UK [suːn]
How to pronounce soon in American English:
US [suːn]
-
- Adverb:
- in the near future
Word Origin
- soon
- soon: [OE] In Old English times, soon meant ‘straightaway’, but human nature being what it is, the tendency to procrastinate led over the centuries to a change in meaning to ‘after a short while’. (The same thing happened to anon, and is in the process of happening to directly.) The word itself comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *sǣnō, whose other descendants apart from soon have all but died out.
- soon (adv.)
- Old English sona "at once, immediately, directly, forthwith," from Proto-Germanic *sæno (cognates: Old Frisian son, Old Saxon sana, Old High German san, Gothic suns "soon"). Sense softened early Middle English to "within a short time" (compare anon). American English. Sooner for "Oklahoma native" is 1930 (earlier "one who acts prematurely," 1889), from the 1889 opening to whites of what was then part of Indian Territory, when many would-be settlers sneaked onto public land and staked their claims "sooner" than the legal date and time.
Antonym
Example
- 1. I promise to come back soon .
- 2. This comes not a moment too soon .
- 3. Several relatives of the president have books due out soon .
- 4. It is too soon to count him out .
- 5. But the violence and interest soon subsided .