sooner or later

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adverb

sooner or later (not comparable)

1. (set phrase) Eventually, at some undetermined time in the not-too-distant future.

   He’ll turn up sooner or later.

   • 1982, The English Beat (lyrics and music), “Save It for Later”, in Special Beat Service:

     Sooner or later / You hit the deck, you get found out / Save it for later / Don't run away and let me down

Synonyms

• one day, one of these days, some day, someday; see also Thesaurus:one day

Translations

set phrase; eventually

• Arabic: عَاجِلاً أَم آجِلاً (ʕājilan ʔam ʔājilan), عَاجِلاً أَو آجِلاً (ʕājilan ʔaw ʔājilan), فِي نِهَايَةِ الْمَطَافِ (fī nihāyati l-maṭāfi)
• Armenian: վաղ թե ուշ (vaġ tʻe uš)
• Belarusian: ра́на ці по́зна (rána ci pózna)
• Catalan: tard o d'hora
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 遲早 / 迟早 (ci⁴ zou²)

  Mandarin: 遲早 / 迟早 (zh) (chízǎo), 早晚 (zh) (zǎowǎn)

• Czech: dříve nebo později, dříve či později
• Danish: før eller senere, før eller siden
• Dutch: vroeg of laat
• Estonian: varem või hiljem
• Finnish: ennemmin tai myöhemmin (fi)
• French: tôt ou tard (fr), à un moment ou à un autre

  Middle French: tost ou tard

• Georgian: ადრე თუ გვიან (adre tu gvian)
• German: früher oder später (de)
• Greek: αργά ή γρήγορα (argá í grígora)
• Hungarian: előbb vagy utóbb, előbb-utóbb (hu)
• Italian: prima o poi, presto o tardi
• Japanese: 遅かれ早かれ (ja) (おそかれはやかれ, osokare-hayakare), 早晩 (ja) (そうばん, sōban)
• Korean: 조만간 (ko) (joman'gan)
• Latin: serius aut citius, serius ocius
• Latvian: agrāk vai vēlāk
• Lithuanian: anksčiau ar vėliau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: før eller senere, før eller seinere, før eller siden

  Nynorsk: før eller seinare

• Old English: ǣr oþþe lator
• Polish: prędzej czy później (pl)
• Portuguese: mais cedo ou mais tarde
• Romanian: mai devreme sau mai târziu, odată și-odată
• Russian: ра́но и́ли по́здно (ru) (ráno íli pózdno)
• Scottish Gaelic: luath no mall
• Spanish: tarde o temprano (es), a la corta o a la larga
• Swedish: förr eller senare (sv), så småningom (sv)
• Turkish: eninde sonunda (tr), er ya da geç (tr), er geç (tr)
• Ukrainian: ра́но чи пі́зно (ráno čy pízno)
• Vietnamese: sớm muộn (vi), trước sau (vi)
• Welsh: yn hwyr neu'n hwyrach

See also

• for better or worse
• sooner than later