at once
UK/ət ˈwʌns/
at once adverb: at the same time; simultaneously; together.
Adverb
at once (not comparable)
- At the same time; simultaneously; together.
- 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.2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest: A new wave of press barons should not allow newspapers to become niche products”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
- Synonyms:
- at one time
- Can you pat your head and rub your belly at once?
- Immediately; now; right away.
- 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.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- In one group; together.
- And they all atonce begane to make excuſe. The fyrſt ſayd vnto him: I have bought a ferme / and I muſt nedes goo and ſe it / I praye the have me excuſed.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke xiiij:[18], folio cj, recto
- Now if it ſo be that it woulde happely be thought not a thyng metely to be aduentured to ſet all on a fluſhe at ones, and daſhe raſhelye out holye ſcrypture in euerye lewde felowes teeth: […]1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. The .16. Chapiter. The Messẽger Rehearseth Some Causes Which He Hath Herd Laid by Some of yͤ Clergie: […].”, in Wyllyam...
at once meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
at once in Hindi
- immediately
- हाथों हाथ hāthõ hāth, तुरंत turant
at once in Tamil
- உடனடியாக, உடனே, ஒரே நேரத்தில், ஒரே சமயத்தில்
at once in Urdu
- at once
- یکیدم yakīdam
at once in Telugu
- at the same time
- ఒకే సారి okē sāri
More languagesFewer languages
- at once in Malayalam
- തൽക്ഷണം, ഈ ക്ഷണത്തിൽ, ഇക്കണം, ഉടനെ
- at once in Kannada
- ನೆಕ್ಕನೆ, ಒಮ್ಮೆಲೆ, ತಪಕ್ಕನೆ
- at once in Odia
- ଏକଦମ୍ ekadam
- at once in Sanskrit
- सकृत् sakṛt
- at once in Arabic
- حَالاً ḥālan
Examples of at once in a sentence
- [T]he book, constructed in short, lucid episodes, can be satisfyingly read as a sequence of provocative talks, at once well informed and vatic.2014 September 26, Tom Payne, “Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, review: 'urgent questions' [print version: The...
- The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
Synonyms of at once
Forms of at once
| alternative form | attonce |
|---|
Origin of at once
From Middle English at ones, equivalent to at + once.
Words formed from at once
Questions about at once
- What does at once mean?
- At once means at the same time; simultaneously; together.
- What is at once in Hindi?
- At once in Hindi is हाथों हाथ (hāthõ hāth), तुरंत (turant). See At once meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use at once in a sentence?
- [T]he book, constructed in short, lucid episodes, can be satisfyingly read as a sequence of provocative talks, at once well informed and vatic.
- What part of speech is at once?
- At once is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce at once?
- At once is pronounced /ət ˈwʌns/ (UK).
Words near at once in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: at once (page history and authors); at once (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); یکیدم (Urdu) (page history and authors); at once (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); at once (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଏକଦମ୍ (Odia) (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-au-at once.ogg.
Cite this entry: “at once.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_once. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.