What is the Latin word for immediately?

The usual Latin words for “immediately” are cōnfestim, continuō, extemplō; also īlicō, statim, prōtinus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“immediately” in Latin

cōnfestimimmediately, forthwith continuōto join, connect, unite, make continuous; to follow successively or uninterruptedly or immediately, pursuit; to extend, extemplōimmediately, forthwith īlicōon the spot, at hand; immediately, at once statimstably, in a constant manner; at once, immediately; then (at that time)prōtinusimmediately, forthwith; forward, farther on, onward; continuously, constantly, uninterruptedly āctūtumimmediately, instantly moraa duration of time before an event takes place, delay; a delay in the performance of an action, putting off; hindrance interpōnōto put, place or lay between or among; to insert, interpose or introduce (often in a bad way); to pledge

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

immediately

confestim: continuo (opposed to ex intervallo, morā, aliquā, interpositā: confestim denotes haste, and therefore presupposes an agent; continuo denotes the absence of any interval or break between the two actions): extemplo: e vestigio (opposed to delay of any kind; extemplo = ex tempore [tempulum, templum, a short space of time], on the instant, this instant; the best word for doing anything on the moment, in circumstances of difficulty, when there is no time for deliberation; e vestigio, on the spot): illico (= in loco; opposed to slowness; Döderlein thinks that it is confined to actions done on one and the same spot; e vestigio, of actions that are preceded by a change of place; Schmalfield thinks that extemplo is used of nearly continuous, illico, of absolutely continuous actions): statim: protinus (opposed to a future time, postea, alio tempore, etc. In this sense protinus is found in Livy, Nep., and later writers; but not in Cic. or earlier writers, except in one passage, oratio perspicue et protinus conficiens auditorem benevolum; Inv., 2, 15, 20. In other passages of Cic. and Caes., it is found with a verb expressed, denoting or implying progress, what was done further, etc., hostes protinus ex eo loco ad flumen Axonam contenderunt, Caes., B.G., 2, 9; tantus repente invasit terror, ut... protinus aperto sanctiore aerario ex urbe profugeret, B. C. 1, 14; ex hac fuga protinus quae undique convenerant auxilia discesserunt, Handrianus, vol. 4, p. 622): actutum (αὐτίκα, but rare; quam... actutum in Italia fore nuntiaverat, Liv.; only once in Cic., Phil., 12, 11, 26: it comes from actu, as astutum from astu, and is therefore a participial adverb from an obsolete verb actuo, Handrianus, 1, 73, 74): jam jamque (e.g., Caes. enim adventare, jam jamque et adesse ejus equites falso nunciabantur, Caes., B. C. 1, 14; it always implies emotion, Herzog, ad loc): dictum factum; dictum ac factum (no sooner said than done; a colloquial expression = ἅμα ἔπος ἅμα ἔργον). - sine mora (without any delay on the part of the agent). Immediately... then... and at last, extemplo... mox... postremo (e.g., extemplo fusi, fugati, mox intra vallum paventes, compulsi; postremo exuuntur castris, Liv.). When followed by another clause, “that” being omitted, it is = as soon as [Vid: As, (1.), extr.]

Without intervention, etc., nullo interveniente.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for immediately?: The usual Latin words for “immediately” are cōnfestim, continuō, extemplō; also īlicō, statim, prōtinus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.