Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#TIMELYCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#TIMELY timely, tymely, timliche, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#TIMELYCategory:English terms derived from Old English#TIMELY *tīmlīc (adjective) and tīmlīċe (“in good time; timely; soon”, adverb), equivalent to time +‎ -lyCategory:English terms suffixed with -ly (adjectival)#TIMELY. Cognate with Danish timelig, Swedish timlig, Icelandic tímalegur, tímanlegur.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tīmʹlē, IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪmli/Category:English 2-syllable words#TIMELYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TIMELY

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#TIMELY

Adjective

timely (comparative timelier, superlative timeliest)Category:English lemmas#TIMELYCategory:English adjectives#TIMELYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TIMELYCategory:Pages with entries#TIMELYCategory:Pages with 2 entries#TIMELY

1. Done at the proper time or within the proper time limits; prompt.

   Synonyms: on time, well-timed; see also Thesaurus:punctual

   Antonyms: ill-timed, late; see also Thesaurus:overdue

   • 2012, Frederick D. Lipman, Whistleblowers, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, →ISBN, page 201:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

2. Happening or appearing at the proper time.

   Synonyms: opportune, seasonable; see also Thesaurus:timely

   Antonyms: inopportune, unseasonable; see also Thesaurus:untimely

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 4, lines 614–616:

     […] and the timely dew of sleep, / Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines / Our eye-lids […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

   • 1891, J.K.S., Drinking Song:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

   • 2011 October 20, Jamie Lillywhite, “Tottenham 1 - 0 Rubin Kazan”, in BBC Sport‎:

     The athletic Walker, one of Tottenham's more effective attacking elements with his raids from right-back, made a timely intervention after Rose had been dispossessed and even Aaron Lennon was needed to provide an interception in the danger zone to foil another attempt by the Russians.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

3. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#TIMELY) Keeping time or measure.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book 1, canto 4, verse 4, lines 33–36:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

Adverb

timely (comparative more timely, superlative most timely)Category:English lemmas#TIMELYCategory:English adverbs#TIMELYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TIMELYCategory:Pages with entries#TIMELYCategory:Pages with 2 entries#TIMELY

1. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#TIMELY) In good time; early, quickly.
   • 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:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

2. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#TIMELY) At the right time; seasonably.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

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3. (lawCategory:en:Law#TIMELY) In compliance with applicable time limits.
   • 1998, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, US v. Merino-Balderrama:

     On May 14, 1997, the jury convicted the defendant, who currently is serving a fifteen-month sentence. The defendant timely appeals.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

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   • 2003, United States Supreme Court, Clay v. United States‎:

     […] § 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TIMELY

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Adverb

timelyCategory:Middle English alternative forms#TIMELYCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#TIMELYCategory:Pages with entries#TIMELYCategory:Pages with 2 entries#TIMELY

1. alternative form of tymely