as soon as possible

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word as soon as possible. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word as soon as possible, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say as soon as possible in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word as soon as possible you have here. The definition of the word as soon as possible will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofas soon as possible, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Adverb

as soon as possible (not comparable)

  1. As soon as is possible; at one's earliest convenience; at the earliest possible time.

Usage notes

This is not an idiom. It is a particularly common instance of the general construction: "as X as Y", where both X and Y have a large range of possibilities. X can be an adjectival, an adverbial, or a quantifier determiner (much, little, many, few) and Y can be a clause or an ellipsis of a clause. The full clause for which "possible" is an ellipsis depends on the preceding verb. "He left as soon as possible" is an ellipsis for "He left as soon as it was possible for him to leave." When Y is a noun ("He left as soon as John."), the ellipsis is still for a clause ("He left as soon as John left."). So if one was going to do something as soon as possible, then one would perform said action as soon as any impeding activity was no longer an obstacle.

Synonyms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also