Borrowed from Spanish pronto, from Latin prōmptus. Doublet of prompt.
Meanings
(informal, rare) Quick, prompt.
For a pronto lunch, take a slice or two to work and team with a tasty salad. 2014, Gurpareet Bains, “Turkey Meatloaf”, in The Superfood Diet, Bath, Somerset: Absolute Press, →ISBN, “Lunch” section, page 77:
Wow! With a pronto 'Poof' from Funky, Bronto the Brontosaurus appears. 2020, Douglas J. Alford, “Dinos to Dinner”, in Stories – of Self & Sharing, Alford Books, →ISBN, page 8:
In pronto reaction time, Zeth chose to drive a black armored truck, […] 2019, Allen Knox, “Under the Rabbit Skin”, in Afternoon Solipsism (Insinmind; 1), Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, →ISBN:
Borrowed from Spanish pronto, from Latin prōmptus. Doublet of prompt.
Meanings
(informal, not-comparable) Quickly, very soon, promptly.
I need to finish this assignment pronto.
“[…] I burst through the door with a pregnancy bump and shouted at him, pretending to be his mistress. I’ve never seen a man look so horrified in his life. I then went into a spontaneous lip-sync of ‘I Will Survive’.” (We need footage, pronto.) 2024 September 12, Sam Damshenas, “‘A new direction for the franchise’: Drag Race UK stars on “mind-blowing” season 6”, in Gay Times:
You really can't handle hot weather. If a host has a fever, get out of there pronto. 2023, translated in 2025, Berta Páramo and translated by Marc Correa Haro, Lice: How to Survive on Humans, page 74:
Translations (17)
bg веднага (quickly) · bg бързо (quickly) · cs okamžitě (quickly) · ru ско́ро (quickly) · cs rychle (quickly) · ru быстро (quickly) · it subito (quickly) · fr illico (quickly) · it il prima possibile (quickly) · fi pikaisesti (quickly) · is tafarlaust (quickly) · is eins og skot (quickly) · da med det samme (quickly) · pt logo (quickly) · cs fofrem (quickly) · es pronto (quickly) · da omgående (quickly)