Word.ws English Dictionary

præsently

præsently is the obsolete spelling of presently.

Meaning of presently

Adverb

presently (comparative more presently, superlative most presently)

  1. (UK, archaic) Immediately, at once; quickly.
    • Polonius: My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  2. Before long; soon.
    • Presently all was quiet again.
  3. (proscribed, rare) At present; now; currently.
    • The towns and forts you presently have.a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...
  4. (obsolete) With actual presence; in actuality.
    • March 27 1545, Stephen Gardiner, letter to Thomas Smith and MAtthew PArker
      if they perceyve not presently, it shal be wel doon to bringe them to conformite

Forms of præsently

comparativemore præsently
superlativemost præsently

Origin of præsently

Equivalent to præsent + -ly.

Questions about præsently

What is præsently the obsolete spelling of?
Præsently is the obsolete spelling of presently.

Words near præsently in the dictionary

  1. præsentation
  2. præsentations
  3. præsented
  4. præsenteth
  5. præsenting
  6. præsently
  7. præsents
  8. præserve
  9. præserved
  10. præserves
  11. præserveth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: præsently (page history and authors); presently (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: “præsently.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pr%C3%A6sently. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.