as soon as

as soon as

English

Alternative forms

• soon as (colloquial, ellipsis)

Pronunciation

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Conjunction

as soon as

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see as,‎ soon.

   I came as soon as I could.

2. At the moment when; immediately after.

   As soon as he arrived, everyone gasped.

   Synonyms: immediately, once

3. (idiomatic) Used to indicate that the first action mentioned is as likely as, or is preferred to, the second action mentioned.

   I'd jump out the window as soon as not.

   • 2003 Oct. 12, William Safire (quoting 1913 New York City court records), "The Way We Live Now," New York Times (retrieved 19 Sep 2015):

     "He was a bad guy. He would hit you with a chunk of pipe as soon as look at you."

   • 2013 April 5, David Hathaway, "Your 2nd Amendment Cop Buddy Will Take Your Guns," LewRockwell.com (retrieved 19 Sep 2015):

     "[T]hey are the worst of the worst and they will shoot you just as soon as say Hello."

Derived terms

• as soon as look at someone
• as soon as possible (ASAP)

Translations

immediately after

Arabic: مَا أَن‎ (mā ʾan), حَالَمَا‎ (ḥālamā), بِمُجَرَد‎ (bimujarad) Egyptian Arabic: بمجرد‎ (bemugarad) Armenian: շուտափույթ (hy) (šutapʿuytʿ) Breton: kentañ ma (br) Catalan: tan bon punt, tot seguit (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 當／当 (zh) (dāng...), ...就 (zh) (...jiù), 一...就 (yī...jiù), 一經／一经 (zh) (yījīng) Czech: jakmile (cs) Danish: så snart som Dutch: zodra (nl) Esperanto: tuj kiam Faroese: so skjótt sum, fyrsta Finnish: kun (fi), kunhan, heti kun French: dès que (fr), sitôt que (fr) Galician: en canto, des que, asemade, amentre, atanto, encabantes Georgian: როგორც კი (rogorc ḳi) German: sowie (de), sobald (de) Gothic: 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌴𐌹 (sunsei) Greek: μόλις (el) (mólis), αφότου (el) (afótou) Hungarian: mihelyt (hu), mihelyst (hu), amint (hu), ahogy (hu) Icelandic: strax og Irish: chomh luath agus Italian: non appena, una volta che Japanese: ...とすぐ (...to sugu), や否や (やいなや, yainaya) Khmer: ជាពេលដែល (cie peil dael) Latin: simulac (la) Latvian: tiklīdz, līdzko Luxembourgish: esoubal Norwegian: straks (no) Persian: همین که‎ (hamin ke), به محض‎ (be mahz-e) Polish: gdy tylko, kiedy tylko, jak tylko Portuguese: tão logo, assim que, logo que Romanian: odată ce, imediat ce Russian: как то́лько (ru) (kak tólʹko) Serbo-Croatian: čim Slovak: akonáhle Spanish: apenas (es), en cuanto, tan pronto como, ni bien Swedish: så snart Turkish: -er -mez Ukrainian: як тільки (jak tilʹky), що́йно (ščójno) Vietnamese: ngay (vi) Walloon: do côp ki (wa), a fwait ki (wa), a muzeure ki (wa)

Preposition

as soon as

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see as,‎ soon.

   He might arrive as soon as three o'clock.