at present / presently (2025)

I always hesitate with this kind of words like "in general / generally" or "at present / presently".

How does the difference sound to you?

It is difficult to get figures from those results but what can be hold is that at present the demand is very high.

It is difficult to get figures from those results but what can be hold is that presently the demand is very high.

What is more formal? is it the same?

Sorry.. so I guess it is "at the moment", let's try with "generally / in general":

It is difficult to get figures from those results but what can be hold is that in general people dislike cooking.

It is difficult to get figures from those results but what can be hold is that generally people dislike cooking.

Thanks a lot for your explanation!

I thought both would mean the same! I checked the exact meaning in the dictionary:
at present : (currently) en ce moment
as presently I shall be leaving: il faut que je parte tout de suite

I am glad that I could learnt about the wrong usage I made from this word!!

Hi,

When I read the responses to this question, I was a little shocked to read presently used to mean soon, but then I thought back to the year I spent in France and the high school English teacher who marked my translation wrong because I translated "presently" to be "à présent". I can't remember if I argued with her about this like I did when she told me my translation of "cusinière" should have been "cooker" instead of "stove", never having the the "cooker" word used that way before. Anyway, I digress. I think most Americans would use "presently" to mean "at present, at the moment" rather than to mean "in a little while." People who are very particular about their language might/would use the second option over the first (FYI, in the Southern U.S. English, one occasionally hears double modals such as "people...might would use the second option"--another digression, sorry). To validate what I've said, I've looked up the word on dictionary.com and found the following:

1. in a little while; soon: They will be here presently.
2. at the present time; now: He is presently out of the country.
3. archaic. Immediately.

More interesting was the Usage note:

Usage note:
The two apparently contradictory meanings of presently, “in a little while, soon” and “at the present time, now,” are both old in the language. In the latter meaning presently dates back to the 15th century. It is currently in standard use in all varieties of speech and writing in both Great Britain and the United States. The sense “soon” arose gradually during the 16th century. Strangely, it is the older sense “now” that is sometimes objected to by usage guides. The two senses are rarely if ever confused in actual practice. Presently meaning “now” is most often used with the present tense (The professor is presently on sabbatical leave) and presently meaning “soon” often with the future tense (The supervisor will be back presently). The semantic development of presently parallels that of anon, which first had the meaning, now archaic, of “at once, immediately,” but later came to mean “soon.”

In summary, depending on who you're talking to, at present and presently either mean the same thing or two different things. I guess this would figure in the prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar debate, so it's for you to decide which meaning you'll chose to use. Take care!

The usage of "presently" in the sense "shortly" is not common in AE; its usage to mean "at present" is.

As regards yr sample sentences, one thought on word order:

In general, people dislike cooking. At present, the demand is very high.
People generally dislike cooking. The demand is presently very high.

(We tend to like our verbs and -ly adverbs paired.)