as soon as possible

English

Alternative forms

ASAP, asap (acronym)

Adverb

as soon as possible (not comparable)

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

ASAP

Translations

as soon as is possible

Arabic: فِي أَقْرَب وَقْت مُمْكِن‎ (fī ʾaqrab waqt mumkin), فِي أَسْرَع وَقْت مُمْكِن‎ (fī ʾasraʿ waqt mumkin)
Catalan: al més aviat possible, com més aviat millor, tan aviat com es pugui
Chinese:
Mandarin: 盡快／尽快 (zh) (jìnkuài), 及早 (zh) (jízǎo), 越快越好 (yuè kuài yuè hǎo)
Czech: co nejdříve
Danish: så hurtigt som muligt
Dutch: zo snel mogelijk
Esperanto: kiel eble plej baldaŭ (eo), kiel eble plej rapide
Estonian: nii kiiresti kui võimalik
Finnish: heti, kun mahdollista, mahdollisimman pian
French: dès que possible (fr), le plus vite possible, au plus tôt (fr), dans les plus brefs délais (fr)
Galician: o máis axiña posíbel
Georgian: სასწრაფოდ (sasc̣rapod), უმალ (umal)
German: so bald wie möglich, so schnell wie möglich, baldmöglichst (de), schnellstmöglich (de)
Greek: το συντομότερο δυνατόν (to syntomótero dynatón)
Hebrew: בהקדם האפשרי‎ (bahekdem ha'efshari)
Hindi: जितना जल्दी हो सके (jitnā jaldī ho sake) (singular), जितना जल्दी हो सकें (jitnā jaldī ho sakẽ) (plural)
Hungarian: mielőbb (hu), minél előbb, minél hamarabb, a lehető leghamarabb, amint lehetséges, mihelyt lehetséges, amilyen hamar csak lehet, amilyen hamar csak lehetséges
Icelandic: sem fyrst, eins fljótt og auðið er, sem skjótast
Ido: tam balde kam posible
Irish: chomh luath agus is féidir, an túisce is féidir
Italian: al più presto, il più presto possibile, quanto prima (it), il prima possibile
Japanese: できるだけ早く (dekiru dake hayaku), 出来る限り早期 (できるかぎりそうき, dekiru gakiri sōki), できる限り急いで (できるかぎりいそいで, dekiru kagiri isoide), 可及的速やかに (かきゅうてきすみやかに, kakyūteki sumiyaka-ni), 一刻も早く (いっこくもはやく, ikkoku mo hayaku)
Korean: 가능한 빨리 (ganeunghan ppalli), 되도록 빨리 (doedorok ppalli)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بە زووترین کات‎ (be zûtrîn kat)
Latin: quam primum, quam celerrime
Norwegian: så snart som mulig
Persian: هرچه زودتر‎ (harče zudtar)
Polish: tak szybko, jak to możliwe, możliwie najszybciej, możliwie jak najszybciej
Portuguese: o quanto antes
(Brazil): o mais rápido possível
(Portugal): o mais breve possível
Romanian: cel mai repede posibil, cât de repede posibil, cât mai curând, cât mai curând posibil
Russian: как мо́жно скоре́е (kak móžno skoréje), как мо́жно быстре́е (kak móžno bystréje)
Scottish Gaelic: cho luath sa ghabhas
Spanish: lo antes posible, lo más rápido posible, cuanto antes, tan pronto como sea posible, a la brevedad, a la mayor brevedad
Swedish: snarast (sv), så fort som möjligt, så snart som möjligt
Thai: เร็วที่สุดเท่าที่จะเร็วได้ (reo têe sùt tâo têe jà reo dâai)
Turkish: bir an önce (tr), olabildiğince çabuk, mümkün olduğunca çabuk
Ukrainian: якомо́га скорі́ше (jakomóha skoríše), якнайскорі́ше (jaknajskoríše), якомо́га шви́дше (jakomóha švýdše, literally “as quickly as possible”), якнайшви́дше (uk) (jaknajšvýdše, literally “as quickly as possible”), якомо́га рані́ше (jakomóha raníše, literally “as early as possible”)
Urdu: جلد از جلد‎ (jald az jald), جتنی جلدی ہو سکے‎ f (jitnī jaldi ho sake)
Vietnamese: sớm nhất có thể, càng sớm càng tốt

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

Translations to be checked

Persian: ^{(please verify)} در اولین فرصت ممکن‎