then and there

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adverb

then and there (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Right at that moment in time and on the spot; immediately.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 99:

     'Well, I soon saw to that, I told him to bolt it then and there[.]'

Synonyms

• there and then

Translations

right at that moment in time

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 當場／当场 (zh) (dāngchǎng)

• French: immédiatement (fr)
• Irish: ar an ásc sin, ar an bhfáscadh sin, ar an iarracht sin, ar an spota, den fháscadh sin, lom díreach, lom láithreach
• Latin: īlicō
• Russian: здесь и сейча́с (zdesʹ i sejčás)

See also

• here and now

Anagrams

• there and then