{"id":27749,"date":"2025-04-29T19:12:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T00:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plainenglish.com\/?post_type=expressions&p=27749"},"modified":"2025-04-29T19:12:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T00:12:34","slug":"at-once","status":"publish","type":"expressions","link":"https:\/\/plainenglish.com\/expressions\/at-once\/","title":{"rendered":"At once"},"content":{"rendered":"

At once<\/h3>\n

\u201cAt once\u201d has two meanings, and they\u2019re very different. To make things even more complicated<\/span>, neither meaning<\/span> really has anything to do with<\/a> the word \u201conce,\u201d which means \u201cjust one time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are the two ways to use \u201cat once.\u201d First, it can mean, to do something immediately<\/span>, without delay<\/span>, without waiting<\/span> at all. If a child is misbehaving<\/span>, you might scold<\/span> her and say, \u201cStop doing that at once<\/strong>!\u201d It means, stop doing that right now.<\/p>\n

The second way to use \u201cat once\u201d is to do multiple things at the same time<\/span>. Have you made a big mistake<\/span> at work? Maybe you were trying to do too many things<\/span> at once<\/strong>. Maybe you were trying to do too many things at the same time.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a deeper dive into the two meanings.<\/p>\n

Do something immediately<\/h4>\n

The first meaning is to do something immediately, without any delay<\/span>, without any waiting<\/span>. It\u2019s common to use this in the form of a command<\/span>. You tell someone to do something immediately. <\/p>\n

If you have kids\u2014say<\/a>, teenagers<\/span> or younger\u2014you probably use the equivalent of<\/a> \u201cat once\u201d fairly frequently<\/span>. Imagine you have younger kids; you\u2019re trying to get them ready for bed<\/span>. You\u2019ve already asked them nicely<\/span> a few times to brush their teeth<\/span>, but they\u2019re still<\/a> playing with their toys<\/span> or watching TV. At this point<\/span>, you might say, \u201cGo brush your teeth at once<\/strong>!\u201d <\/p>\n

This makes it clear<\/span> that you want them to do it right now<\/span>, without any more dilly-dallying<\/span>, without any more delays, no more excuses<\/span>, not \u201cjust five more minutes,\u201d at once<\/strong>. Right now. No delays, no excuses. Go brush your teeth at once<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When talking to adults<\/span>, \u201cat once\u201d implies some urgency<\/span>. Someone in a position of authority<\/span> is taking charge of<\/span> the situation and telling others what to do<\/span>. Think of a chemistry lab<\/span>. A student in the lab spills a harmful chemical<\/span>. The lab supervisor<\/span> might say, \u201cEveryone needs to get out of here at once<\/strong>.\u201d That means, \u201ceveryone needs to get out of the lab right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, imagine a hospital. A nurse<\/span> finds that a patient<\/span> needs a doctor\u2019s attention<\/span> immediately. The nurse might say to an assistant<\/span>, \u201cCall the doctor at once<\/strong>.\u201d That means, do it right now. It\u2019s urgent. Call her at once<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

So, when you use \u201cat once\u201d like this, you\u2019re asking for immediate action. But you can sometimes use it to describe immediate action. Have you ever witnessed<\/span> a car crash? It\u2019s scary<\/span>. I saw one at a busy intersection<\/span> in Chicago and I called the police at once<\/strong>. I pulled right over and called 911. And the police came and interviewed me<\/span>. They asked me what I did when I saw the accident. I said, \u201cI pulled over<\/span> at once<\/strong> and called 911.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do multiple things at the same time<\/h4>\n

Now let\u2019s take a look at the second meaning, to do multiple things at the same time. Are you good at multi-tasking<\/span>? That word has fallen out of favor lately<\/span> because psychologists<\/span> have discovered<\/span> that humans are really bad at doing multiple things<\/span> at once<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sure, we can try. But if we try to do too many things at once<\/strong>, then we won\u2019t do any of them well. If you work for a big company, you probably have to attend webinars<\/span> or big group conference calls<\/span>. And you\u2019re probably tempted<\/span> to also do something else at the same time.<\/p>\n

You might decide to listen to the webinar and reply to emails at once<\/strong>. That means, you\u2019re doing them at the same time. But you know what? We humans are not good at this. Your attention will be on one, on the other, or on neither. But you can\u2019t really focus<\/span> on two things at once<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you reply to an email, but you accidentally<\/span> send a message to the wrong person, you might have to apologize<\/span>. You can say, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I was trying to do two things at once<\/strong> and I sent this message to the wrong person.\u201d<\/p>\n

All at once<\/h4>\n

A common variation on \u201cat once\u201d is the expression, \u201call at once.\u201d When you use \u201call at once,\u201d everything happens together.<\/p>\n

We were just talking about doing multiple things at the same time. \u201cAll at once\u201d is very common here. You might say that a parent was preparing dinner<\/span>, supervising homework<\/span>, and keeping an eye on<\/a> work emails all at once<\/strong>. All these things were happening at the same time.<\/p>\n

Another way to use \u201call at once\u201d is to talk about doing things in a batch<\/span>. How do you review<\/span> your email? Do you interrupt your work<\/span> and read all your emails one by one as they come in<\/span>? Or do you wait for a few hours and review them all at once<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

If you review your emails all at once<\/strong>, you wait until a bunch of<\/span> messages have accumulated<\/span> and then you read them in a group, in a batch.<\/p>\n

A supervisor<\/span> or manager might say this at work. If employees gradually<\/span> finish reports, the supervisor might review the reports<\/span> immediately\u2014right after, or right as, the employees finish. Or, the supervisor might want to review them all at once<\/strong>. That means, she\u2019ll wait until the work is done. Then, when all the reports are drafted<\/span>, she\u2019ll review them all at once<\/strong>. She\u2019ll review them together in a batch.<\/p>\n

Finally, you can say \u201call at once\u201d when multiple things happen to you, maybe not in the same moment but in the same general period of time<\/span>. You might get a new job, move to a new house, and start a new relationship<\/span> all in the same month. If that happens, you can say, \u201cSo much was happening all at once<\/strong>; it was overwhelming<\/span>.\u201d That means, so much was happening together at the same time.<\/p>\n

\n

There you go. Now you\u2019re prepared to use \u201cat once\u201d in your English conversations. <\/p>\n

Remember, the first definition of \u201cat once\u201d means to do something immediately. It\u2019s often used as a command, like if you tell your kids, \u201cGo brush your teeth at once<\/strong>.\u201d But it can also be used to describe immediate action like, \u201cWhen I saw the car accident, I called the police at once<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then you learned \u201cat once\u201d can be about doing multiple things at the same time. If you try to do too much at once<\/strong>, you\u2019ll get distracted<\/span>. And then we talked about \u201call at once,\u201d which is similar to the second definition. It\u2019s about things happening together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘At once’ can mean to do something immediately or do two things at the same time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"terminology_category":[2574,2575],"lesson_number":[],"keywords":[666],"content_tag":[],"level":[],"class_list":["post-27749","expressions","type-expressions","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","terminology_category-essential-expressions","terminology_category-essential-season-1","keywords-once"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAt once | English Expression - Full Lesson & Examples<\/title>\n <!-- Mirrored from plainenglish.com/wp-json/wp/v2/expressions/27749 by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:48:53 GMT --> <!-- Added by HTTrack --><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /><!-- /Added by HTTrack --> <meta name=\"description\" content=\""At once" has two meanings: to do something immediately, or to do multiple things at the same time. 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