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I have seen it couple of times in a chat room on the internet. What does "insteadly" mean? Is it a shortcut of "instead of"?

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Could you provide a full sentence with it in? If you can also provide a link to the transcript of the chat where you saw, that would be perfect. – Matt Эллен Jun 29 '12 at 6:35
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Most of the instances that come up on Google for me suggest that it is a mishearing/misspelling of "instantly." Maybe it is gaining traction as a neologism with a different meaning, though. I haven't seen it before today. – Cameron Jun 29 '12 at 6:43
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It means "I like to make up my own words and I don't care if people think I'm poorly educated". – user16269 Jun 29 '12 at 6:53
Thanks all the people for the comments. May the God bless you. – Derfder Jun 29 '12 at 7:53
@david- or I want to mix German and English together. – Noah Jun 29 '12 at 14:12
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

It's not an English word. I don't think it's a mistake either, though. It's more likely to be a jocose usage.

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You nailed it ;) Could we call it "playful cleverness" ;) ? – Derfder Jun 29 '12 at 17:09
Sure...but what does it mean? – Mark Beadles Jun 29 '12 at 17:21
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I think it was a chat about real-time search of alternatives on the internet and some guys came out with this word, which I believe is combination of two words: instant/ly and instead of ;) – Derfder Jun 29 '12 at 17:27
Ah! So, we'd call this sort of usage a portmanteau. – Mark Beadles Jun 29 '12 at 17:30
Yes, I think you are right. Thanks. – Derfder Jun 29 '12 at 17:34
up vote 1 down vote

"Insteadly" is not a standard English word. As others have noted, it appears to be a typo for instantly.

I would think this is probably due the pronunciation of [ˈɪnstəntli] as [ˈɪnstədli] in quick speech, where the hearer has not seen the word spelled before.

EDITED TO ADD: After a Google perusal I see only three usages:

  1. This post.
  2. Non-native English speakers using it in place of "instantly".
  3. Non-native English speaker using it in place of "instead".
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Would the downvoter care to explain the reasoning? – Mark Beadles Jun 29 '12 at 16:46
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I need 125 reputation for downvotes. It wassn't me :D – Derfder Jun 29 '12 at 17:08
Vote up need 15 reputation :DDDDD. Too much for me too – Derfder Jun 29 '12 at 17:09
I didn't downvote, but I don't see how you can claim it's a typo for "instantly" without any context (now fixed by the edit). – Peter Shor Jun 29 '12 at 17:26
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@Derfder. Yes, but while a Google search is not definitive, it certainly can help answer whether a word is in widely-accepted, or even narrowly-accepted, use or not. If the word is only used in chat rooms and private websites, then it is not likely to be considered an English word with a clear meaning. In particular, your argument makes this question "too localized". – Mark Beadles Jun 29 '12 at 17:33
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up vote -1 down vote

Never heard of it. None of the dictinaries seem to have it listed under thier belt. It could be a typo for instantly or simply instead.

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