as soon as

English

Alternative forms

• soon as (colloquial, ellipsis)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Audio (Midwestern US):

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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); instantly; directly.

   Synonyms: immediately, once

   As soon as he arrived, everyone gasped.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 43:

     […] that eye which watches guilt
     ⁠And goodness, and hath power to see
     ⁠Within the green the moulder’d tree,
     And towers fall’n as soon as built— […]

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”, in LewRockwell.com, retrieved 19 September 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 ʔan), حَالَمَا (ḥālamā), بِمُجَرَّد (bimujarrad)

  Egyptian Arabic: أوّل ما ('awwal mā), بمجرد (bemugarrad)

  Hijazi Arabic: أوّل ما (ʔawwal mā)

• Armenian: շուտափույթ (hy) (šutapʻuytʻ)
• Breton: kentañ ma (br)
• Bulgarian: щом (bg) (štom)
• 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, post kiam (eo)
• Faroese: so skjótt sum, fyrsta
• Finnish: kun (fi), kunhan, heti kun
• French: dès que (fr), sitôt que (fr), aussitôt 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 (ja) (やいなや, yainaya)
• Khmer: ជាពេលដែល (cie peil dael)
• Latin: simulac (la)
• Latvian: tiklīdz, līdzko
• Luxembourgish: esoubal
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: så snart, straks (no), med det samme

• Pannonian Rusyn: лємцо (ljemco), накадзи (nakadzi)
• Persian: همین که (hamin ke), به محض (be mahz-e)
• Polish: gdy tylko, kiedy tylko, jak tylko
• Portuguese: tão logo (pt), assim que (pt), logo que (pt)
• 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.