already
/ɔːlˈɹɛdi/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.55 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
So soon.
adv
An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation.
Canadian usage; American usage
adv
Indicates the completion of an action (whether past or hypothetical), or more generally, perfective aspect.
adv
Marks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect.
Example Sentences
- "I was surprised that she hadn’t already told me the news."
- "Much of what he said I knew already."
- "I still haven't seen that movie. I hope you haven't already seen it either."
- "Tho, when-as all things ready were aright, / The Damzel was before the Altar ſet, / Being already dead with fearful fright."
- "slipping then my cloaths off, I crept under the bed-cloaths, where I found the young stripling already nestled, and the touch of his warm flesh rather pleas'd than alarm'd me."
- "It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant."
Etymology
From Middle English alredy (“fully; already”), equivalent to al- (“all, completely”) + ready. Cognate with West Frisian alreeds (“already”), Dutch alreeds (“already”), Afrikaans alreeds (“already”), Middle Low German alreide, alreids ("already"; whence modern German Low German alreeds (“already”)), Danish allerede (“already”), Swedish allaredan (“already”), Norwegian Nynorsk allereie (“already”). More at all, ready. The use as an intensifier in American English is a semantic loan from Yiddish שוין (shoyn), attested from 1903. In Singapore English, the use of already as a marker of action completion and change of state is analogous to Hokkien 了 (liáu), Teochew 了 (liao²) and Mandarin 了 (le). Compare Malay (su)dah and Cantonese 咗 (zo²), 喇 (laa³).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: alredy
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ɔːlˈɹɛdi/
Usage
Derived Forms
Phrases
always already
that ship has already sailed
that train has already left the station
A. F. (1992)
volume 18
number 1