as soon as

English

Alternative forms

• soon as (colloquial, ellipsis)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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• Audio (US-midwest)

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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.

   As soon as he arrived, everyone gasped.

   Synonyms: immediately, once

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," LewRockwell.com (retrieved 19 Sep 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), بِمُجَرَد‎ (bimujarad)

  Egyptian Arabic: بمجرد‎ (bemugarad)

• Armenian: շուտափույթ (hy) (šutapʿuytʿ)
• Breton: kentañ ma (br)
• 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
• Faroese: so skjótt sum, fyrsta
• Finnish: kun (fi), kunhan, heti kun
• French: dès que (fr), sitôt 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 (やいなや, yainaya)
• Khmer: ជាពេលដែល (cie peil dael)
• Latin: simulac (la)
• Latvian: tiklīdz, līdzko
• Luxembourgish: esoubal
• Norwegian: straks (no)
• Persian: همین که‎ (hamin ke), به محض‎ (be mahz-e)
• Polish: gdy tylko, kiedy tylko, jak tylko
• Portuguese: tão logo, assim que, logo que
• 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.