Word.ws English Dictionary

on the instant

on the instant is the alternative form of upon the instant.

Meaning of upon the instant

Adverb

upon the instant (not comparable)

  1. (dated, idiomatic) Immediately, right away.
    • Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn.1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 42

Questions about on the instant

What is on the instant the alternative form of?
On the instant is the alternative form of upon the instant.

Words near on the instant in the dictionary

  1. on the hush
  2. on the hush-hush
  3. on the hustle
  4. on the improve
  5. on the inside
  6. on the instant
  7. on the internet
  8. on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog
  9. on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog
  10. on the jar
  11. on the job

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the instant (page history and authors); upon the instant (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: “on the instant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_instant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.