at once
/ət ˈwʌns/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.50 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Example Sentences
- "Can you pat your head and rub your belly at once? He tried to eat four cookies at once."
- "The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account."
- "[T]he book, constructed in short, lucid episodes, can be satisfyingly read as a sequence of provocative talks, at once well informed and vatic."
- "Tell the doctor to come at once. She is having a baby."
- "Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda."
- "One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ət ˈwʌns/