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tout de suite

tout de suite

3 9.9
Immediately, without any delay
  • idiom
  • /tuː də swit/
  • Informal
translation icon : de inmediato
  • Sortez tout de suite !

Examples

  • I think this is a great idea, and I'll be firing off an email to Criterion, suggesting they make you an offer tout de suite!

    Blog text (9)
  • Tell them I'll call up the bank and make sure they're paid tout de suite.

  • Now, I think we should get somebody like that out tout de suite.

  • - Everybody on stage, tout de suite.

  • The dodo is coming tout de suite.

  • I'll call in the bathroom and send Georgie back tout de suite.

  • That is, if you get your derrière to Paris, tout de suite.

    Blog text (29)
  • The character must raise 55,000 pounds tout de suite to repay a drug debt or find himself in the Serbian mob's crosshairs.

    Blog text (19)
  • "I want the Nawab's food taster up here tout de suite—within the minute.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The teacher asked the students to submit their assignments tout de suite.

Synonyms

immediately
vstout de suite
1.0

At once without waiting

is the same immediate idea expressed in a different phrasing
right away
vstout de suite
960 1.0

Without any delay

is the same immediate sense expressed in the given form
at once
vstout de suite
344 1.0

Immediately without delay

conveys the same immediacy as the key expression
instantly
vstout de suite
330 1.0

Right away without any delay

shares the same instant timing rather than a different sense
promptly
vstout de suite
98 2.1

Without delay or at the planned time

focuses solely on immediate action rather than punctual scheduling
instantaneously
vstout de suite
25 5.6

Happen at once without delay

matches immediate timing but reads as slightly more formal
straightaway
vstout de suite
7 3.2

Without delay after something happens

expresses the same prompt timing rather than a different meaning

Antonyms

3.0

After a long time

1.0

At a time after now or after a time already said

How Immediate

instantly
330 1.0
tout de suite
  • Informal
3 9.9
soon
1.0

Surface Forms

tout de suite positive

Morphology

tout + de + suite

Although the phrase literally combines French words meaning 'all' (tout) + 'of' (de) + 'following/sequence' (suite), the jump from that literal composition to the idiomatic sense 'immediately/at once' is not fully predictable. A learner who knows the French constituents might infer a sense of immediacy or succession, but the expression is partly idiomatized and language-specific, so it is only partially transparent to B1 learners.

Etymology

Tout de suite comes from the French words tout ('all'), de, and suite ('following' or 'in a row'). Imagine things happening one after another with no pause, so Tout de suite means 'immediately'.