already
Syllables: al·read·yUK/ɔːlˈɹɛdi/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
cot caught merger/ɑlˈɹɛdi/
already adverb: prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
Adverb
already (not comparable)
- Prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
- I was surprised that she hadn’t already told me the news.
- Much of what he said I knew already.
- So soon.
- Are you quitting already?
- An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation.
- I wish they'd finish already, so we can get going.
- Enough already!
- Indicates the completion of an action (whether past or hypothetical), or more generally, perfective aspect.
- You frame the picture for me already anot?
- “Yah, I sign already,” my mother replied.1999, Alfian Sa'at, Corridor, Singapore: SNP Editions, →OCLC, page 136
- Synonyms:
- liao
- Marks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect.
- I don’t think he can take it already.
- Your ice cream is melting already.
- Synonyms:
- liao
already meaning in Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog and Arabic
already in Hindi
- prior to some time
- पहले ही pahle hī, पहले से pahle se
already in Bengali
- prior to some time
- ইতোমধ্যে itōmoddhe
already in Tagalog
- intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation
- na
already in Arabic
- prior to some time
- قَد qad, مِنْ قَبْلُ min qablu, سَلَفًا salafan
- so soon
- لقد
More languagesFewer languages
- already in Malay
- sudah
- already in Indonesian
- sudah
- already in Persian
- قبلاً qablan, اینک inak, به این زودی be in zudi, دیگه dige
- already in Thai
- แล้ว lɛ́ɛo
- already in Vietnamese
- rồi, đã
- already in Myanmar
- ပြီးပြီ pri:pri
Examples of already in a sentence
- I still haven't seen that movie. I hope you haven't already seen it either.
- Overcook already, need to redo.
- Your grandmother angry already.
- Tho, when-as all things ready were aright, / The Damzel was before the Altar ſet, / Being already dead with fearful fright.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- 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.1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker]...
- 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.1891 June 25, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure I.—A Scandal in Bohemia.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The...
Synonyms of already
Origin of already
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).
Words formed from already
Phrases with already
Words that rhyme with already
Questions about already
- What does already mean?
- Already means prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
- What is already in Hindi?
- Already in Hindi is पहले ही (pahle hī), पहले से (pahle se). See Already meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use already in a sentence?
- I still haven't seen that movie. I hope you haven't already seen it either.
- What part of speech is already?
- Already is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce already?
- Already is pronounced /ɔːlˈɹɛdi/ (UK).
Words near already in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: already (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-already.ogg.
Cite this entry: “already.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/already. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.