straightaway

UK/ˈstɹeɪtəˌweɪ/US/ˈstɹeɪtəˌweɪ/

adverbB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,338 of 15,258leans spoken

Straightaway means at once, without any delay. Go straightaway, tell him straightaway, do it straightaway.

It is British and slightly informal, and it is stronger than soon and gentler than immediately. Written as two words in American English, a straight away is also the straight section of a racetrack. Note straight, which here means direct, and away, which adds the urgency.

Definitions of straightaway

1adverbstraightawayAt once, without any delay.B2+
“The doctor saw how ill she was and sent her to hospital straightaway.”

straightaway is a marker of immediacy.

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

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straightaway in the wild

The track features low banking in the turns and long straightaways.
Sandusky Speedway
There are sometimes level straightaway sections, but few large drops.
Mine train roller coaster
By the time they hit the straightaway, Koch had two metres on Ottey who was about even with Florence Griffith in lane 1.
1983 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres
Down the straightaway, Ottey steadily ate into Koch's lead while the long striding Kathy Cook came from behind to cruise past Griffith.
1983 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres
As the final straightaway neared, Favor-Hamilton looked at her feet expecting her usual final acceleration.
Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 1500 metres

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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