Word.ws English Dictionary

timely

/ˈtaɪm.li/

timely adjective: done at the proper time or within the proper time limits; prompt.

Adjective

timely (comparative timelier, superlative timeliest)

  1. Done at the proper time or within the proper time limits; prompt.
    • If the whistleblower submitted a timely response, pursuant to Step 9, the Claims Review Staff will consider the issues, along with any supporting documentation, and make its Proposed Final Determination.2012, Frederick D. Lipman, Whistleblowers, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, →ISBN, page 201
  2. Happening or appearing at the proper time.
    • […] and the timely dew of sleep, / Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines / Our eye-lids […]1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 4, lines 614–616
    • There are people, I know, to be found, / ⁠Who say and apparently think / That sorrow and care may be drowned / By a timely consumption of drink.1891, J.K.S., Drinking Song
  3. (obsolete) Keeping time or measure.
    • High lifted up were many loftie towres, / And goodly galleries farre over laid, / Full of faire windowes and delightful bowres; / And on the top a Diall told the timely howres.1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book 1, canto 4, verse 4, lines 33–36

Adverb

timely (comparative more timely, superlative most timely)

  1. (archaic) In good time; early, quickly.
    • If I had been born more timely, he said, Rhaegar would have married me instead of Elia, and it would all have come out different.2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Daenerys [Targaryen]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 486
  2. (obsolete) At the right time; seasonably.
    • And this we shall more readily perform, if we timely survey our knowledge, impartially singling out those encroachments, which junior compliance and popular credulity hath admitted.1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica
  3. In compliance with applicable time limits.
    • On May 14, 1997, the jury convicted the defendant, who currently is serving a fifteen-month sentence. The defendant timely appeals.1998, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, US v. Merino-Balderrama
    • […] § 2255's one-year limitation period starts to run when the time for seeking such review expires. Under this rule, Clay's § 2255 petition was timely filed.2003, United States Supreme Court, Clay v. United States

timely meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

timely in Hindi

timely, opportune, apropos
समयानुसार samyānusār
timely, periodical
आर्तव ārtav

timely in Marathi

समयोचित

timely in Urdu

برمحل, بروقت, وقت پر

timely in Bengali

কালিক, যথাকালীন, যথাসময়ে সঙ্ঘটিত, যথাসময়ে কৃত, যথাসময়ে, যথাকালীনভাবে
More languagesFewer languages
timely in Telugu
సమయోచితం
timely in Malayalam
സമയത്തിനൊത്ത, കാലോചിതമായ, തക്ക സമയത്തുളള
timely in Kannada
ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಸರಿಯಾದ, ತಕ್ಕ, ಹೊತ್ತಿನ, ಕಾಲೋಚಿತ
timely in Gujarati
સામયિક sāmyik
timely in Odia
ସମଯ଼ୋଚିତ, ସମଯ଼ୋପଯୋଗୀ
timely in Sanskrit
काल्य kālya
timely in Nepali
समयोचित
timely in Thai
ถูกเวลา, ตรงเวลา dtrong-wee-laa
timely in Vietnamese
hợp thời

Examples of timely in a sentence

  • His assumption of secretarial duties was timely.
  • A false positive from a cancer screening test will unnecessarily frighten a healthy person; a false negative will deprive them of timely treatment.
  • While a false positive from a cancer screening test will unnecessarily frighten a healthy person, a false negative will deprive them of timely treatment.

All 34 example sentences with timely

Synonyms of timely

3 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

6 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of timely

Forms of timely

Adjective
comparativetimelier
superlativetimeliest
Adverb
comparativemore timely
superlativemost timely

Origin of timely

From Middle English timely, tymely, timliche, from Old English *tīmlīc (adjective) and tīmlīċe (“in good time; timely; soon”, adverb), equivalent to time + -ly. Cognate with Danish timelig, Swedish timlig, Icelandic tímalegur, tímanlegur.

Words formed from timely

Questions about timely

What does timely mean?
Timely means done at the proper time or within the proper time limits; prompt.
What is timely in Hindi?
Timely in Hindi is समयानुसार (samyānusār), आर्तव (ārtav). See Timely meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is timely?
Timely can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce timely?
Timely is pronounced /ˈtaɪm.li/.

Words near timely in the dictionary

  1. timelocks
  2. timelord
  3. timelords
  4. timelore
  5. timelotem
  6. timely
  7. timema
  8. timemas
  9. timenoguy
  10. timenoguys
  11. timentin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: timely (page history and authors); आर्तव (Hindi) (page history and authors); timely (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); timely (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); timely (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); timely (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); timely (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); timely (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); સામયિક (Gujarati) (page history and authors); timely (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); काल्य (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); timely (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: “timely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/timely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.