- a short time; not long
- She arrived shortly after us.
- I saw him shortly before he died.
- I bought a new umbrella but lost it shortly afterwards.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- soon
- I'll be ready shortly.
- in an angry and impatient way synonym sharply
- ‘Just wait a minute,’ he said, shortly.
Word OriginOld English scortlīce (see short, -ly).
Check pronunciation:
shortly