already

Meaning

1. Prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
2. So soon.
3. An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation.
4. Indicates action completion or change of state.

Hyphenated as

al‧read‧y

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɔːlˈɹɛdi/

Etymology

From Middle English alredy (“fully; already”), equivalent to al- (“all, completely”) + ready. Cognate with West Frisian alreeds (“already”), Dutch alreeds (“already”), Afrikaans alreeds (“already”), Middle Low German alreide, alreids ("already"; whence modern German Low German alreeds (“already”)), Danish allerede (“already”), Swedish allaredan (“already”), Norwegian Nynorsk allereie (“already”). More at all, ready.
The use as an intensifier in American English is a semantic loan from German schon and Yiddish שוין (shoyn).
In Singapore English, the use of already as a marker of action completion and change of state (i.e., perfective and inchoative aspects respectively) is analogous to Hokkien 了 (liáu), Teochew 了 (liao²) and Mandarin 了 (le). Compare Malay sudah and Cantonese 喇 (laa³).

Sentences

If it were , he would already have heard of it .

The species was originally considered already extinct at the time of its discovery .

I have already described the appearance of that colossal bulk which was embedded in the ground .