N. {ant. 133} earliness, morning,
punctuality,
promptitude,
haste, suddenness,
prematurity,
precocity,
precipitation,
anticipation, a stitch in time
V. be early, be beforehand, keep time, take time by the forelock,
anticipate,
forestall, have the start, gain the start, steal a march upon, gain time, draw on futurity,
bespeak, secure,
engage,
preengage,
accelerate,
expedite, make haste
Adj. early, prime, forward,
prompt, summary,
premature,
precipitate,
precocious,
prevenient,
anticipatory,
rath, sudden, unexpected, near, near at hand, immediate
Adv. early, soon,
anon,
betimes,
rath,
eft,
eftsoons, ere long, before long, shortly,
beforehand,
prematurely,
precipitately, too soon, before its time, before one's time, in anticipation, unexpectedly, suddenly, before one can say "jack robinson", at short notice,
extempore, on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the occasion, at once, on the spot, on the instant, at sight,
offhand, out of hand, a' vue d'oeil, straight,
straightway,
straightforth,
forthwith, incontinently,
summarily, immediately, briefly, shortly, quickly, speedily,
apace, before the ink is dry, almost immediately, presently at the first opportunity, in no long time, by and by, in a while, directly
Phr. no sooner said than done, immediately, if not sooner, tout vient a temps pour qui sait attendre
N. conciseness,
brevity, "the soul of wit",
laconism,
tacitus,
ellipsis,
syncope,
abridgment, compression,
epitome,
monostich, brunch word, portmanteau word
Adj. concise, brief, short,
terse, close, to the point, exact,
neat, compact, compressed,
condensed, pointed,
laconic,
curt,
pithy,
trenchant, summary,
pregnant,
compendious,
succinct,
elliptical,
epigrammatic,
quaint,
crisp,
sententious Adv. concisely, briefly,
summarily, in brief, in short, in a word, in a few words, for shortness sake, to come to the point, to make a long story short, to cut the matter short, to be brief, it comes to this, the long and the short of it is
Phr. brevis esse laboro obscurus fio
