Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sooner rather than later

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.19 in modern English

Syllables: soon-er rather than later
IPA

27

Scrabble Score

21

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adv

In the fairly near future; fairly soon.

Example Sentences

"I believe that therapists need to be proactive rather than laissez faire in addressing problems— if not immediately, then sooner rather than later."
"Their present policy of sterilizing monetary inflows is creating imbalances which suggests, sooner rather than later, they're going to have to, for stability purposes, move their currency."
"The response rate is probably higher when treatment is applied sooner rather than later after diagnosis and to children with VSAA rather than AA."

Inflected Forms

sooner than later (alternative)

Phrases

sooner or later

Frequently Paired Words

sooner or later

Questions

What does sooner rather than later mean?: In the fairly near future; fairly soon.

How to pronounce sooner rather than later

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sooner rather than later”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sooner rather than later”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sooner rather than later” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.