Word.ws English Dictionary

no sooner than

no sooner than conjunction: at the moment when; instantaneously after; immediately after.

Conjunction

no sooner than

  1. At the moment when; instantaneously after; immediately after.
    • Near-synonyms: immediately, instantly, hardly
    • No sooner had he arrived than the others grew talkative.
  2. (idiomatic) Used to indicate that the second action mentioned is as likely as, or is preferred to, the first action mentioned.
    • I'd no sooner shop at their store than jump in a lake.
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see no, sooner, than.
    • He will arrive no sooner than I will.
    Antonyms:
    no later than

Preposition

no sooner than

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see no, sooner, than.
    • Near-synonym: after
    • He will arrive no sooner than ten o'clock.
    Synonyms:
    after

Synonyms of no sooner than

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of no sooner than

Questions about no sooner than

What does no sooner than mean?
No sooner than means at the moment when; instantaneously after; immediately after.
What part of speech is no sooner than?
No sooner than can be a conjunction or a preposition.

Words near no sooner than in the dictionary

  1. no small thing
  2. no smoke without fire
  3. no smoking
  4. no soap
  5. no sooner said than done
  6. no sooner than
  7. no soup for you
  8. no speaks
  9. no string attached
  10. no strings attached
  11. No Such Agency

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: no sooner than (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.

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Cite this entry: “no sooner than.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/no_sooner_than. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.