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sooner or later

phraseB2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

Sooner or later means at some point, whether you like it or not. The timing is open and the outcome is not.

It is a small prophecy, and it nearly always precedes something the speaker considers inevitable and usually unwelcome, so warning that a problem will surface sooner or later is a way of saying it cannot be avoided. It sits at the start or the end of a clause. Eventually and in the end do the same job without the note of warning that this phrase carries.

Definitions of sooner or later

  1. 1phrasesooner or laterAt some point in the future, inevitably.B2

    “Sooner or later somebody will notice the mistake.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Small Talk & Everyday Phrases

First appears in chapter 23 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word