| Shortly 1. (adv.) In a short or brief time or manner; soon; quickly. 2. (adv.) In few words; briefly; abruptly; curtly; as, to express ideas more shortly in verse than in prose. Thesaurus Entries abruptly, after a while, anon, aphoristically, bearishly, before long, betimes, bluffly, bluntly, boorishly, brashly, briefly, brusquely, by and by, cavalierly, churlishly, compendiously, concisely, crisply, crustily, curtly, directly, economically, ere long, fleetingly, flickeringly, flittingly, for a moment, gruffly, harshly, immediately, in a moment, in a while, in an instant, in brief, in brief compass, in due course, in due time, in short, just, laconically, momentarily, nastily, peremptorily, pithily, pointedly, presently, pronto, quickly, right, rudely, sententiously, sharply, snippily, soon, sparely, succinctly, summarily, swiftly, synoptically, tartly, tersely, testily, transiently |