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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 E. Эллен
    Jun 29, 2012 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, 2012 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, 2012 at 6:53
  • Thanks all the people for the comments. May the God bless you.
    – Derfder
    Jun 29, 2012 at 7:53
  • @david- or I want to mix German and English together.
    – Noah
    Jun 29, 2012 at 14:12

3 Answers 3

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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, 2012 at 17:09
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    Sure...but what does it mean?
    – Mark Beadles
    Jun 29, 2012 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, 2012 at 17:27
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    Ah! So, we'd call this sort of usage a portmanteau.
    – Mark Beadles
    Jun 29, 2012 at 17:30
  • @MarkBeadles Stop stealing French words ! :'(
    – Yohann V.
    Jun 26, 2015 at 8:27
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"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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    Not everything is indexed on Google. Some chat rooms and websites are private, you need an access to a member area, which is impossible for Google bot too.
    – Derfder
    Jun 29, 2012 at 17:29
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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, 2012 at 17:33
  • @Noah I didn't, it's still there. No big deal, I've had plenty of downvotes :) I was just curious as to why.
    – Mark Beadles
    Jun 30, 2012 at 15:44
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Never heard of it. None of the dictionaries seem to have it listed under their belt. It could be a typo for instantly or simply instead.

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