soon — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Short in length of time from the present.

   Examples

   I need the soonest date you have available.

2. Early.

   Usage

   • US usage
   • dialectal

   Examples

   Late in the evening we arrived at Quincy where we bivouacked for the night and taken a soon start the next morning to march to the arsenal.

   Got up pretty early, ate a soon breakfast, had the sulky and was about to start to Newtown when it commenced raining..

   More examples (1)

   They were different from colored folks who had to be out to get a soon start.

3. Used as an alternative to express 'to be going to' in the form 'to be soon to'.

   Examples

   Hurry up, the wedding is soon to start!

   A new shop is soon to be opened in this street.

Adverb

1. Immediately, instantly.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

2. Within a short time; quickly.

   Examples

   His wife is likely to come too after him, but we just do not know how soon after.

   More examples (3)

   I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

   Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly,[…], down the nave to the western door.[…]At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

   Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese[…]began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death.

3. Early.

   Usage

   • dialectal

   Examples

   How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

   More examples (1)

   “Been huntin’ fuh mah mule. Anybody seen ’im?” he asked. “Seen ’im soon dis mornin’ over behind de school-house,” Lum said. “’’Bout ten o’clock or so. He musta been out all night tuh be way over dere dat early.”

4. Readily; willingly; used with would, or some other word expressing will.

   Examples

   I would as soon see a river winding through woods or in meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles.

Adverb

1. in the near future

   Synonyms

   shortlypresentlybefore long

   Examples

   the doctor will soon be here

   the book will appear shortly

   More examples (2)

   she will arrive presently

   we should have news before long