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Is there any one-word adverb in English meaning "just a moment ago" or "just moments ago"? For example:

The above section is for quick dashing off of names of folders or files that have been modified just moments ago.

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  • I know of no single word that unambiguously means "just moments ago". You are misusing the phrase dash off.
    – TimR
    Jan 10, 2019 at 13:48
  • "You are misusing the phrase dash off" - How am I misusing it?
    – brilliant
    Jan 11, 2019 at 0:48
  • To dash (something) off is to produce in haste a note, a letter, a reply, etc for someone else to read. Unless I've misunderstood your scenario here, you yourself are the reader of this quick listing of file names. We wouldn't say "Click this button to dash off a listing of recently modified files, so you can choose which one to edit."
    – TimR
    Jan 11, 2019 at 12:11
  • @Tᴚoɯɐuo - Where did you get this "for someone else to read" from? Webster has this definition: "to write (something) in a very quick and hurried way", it doesn't narrow it down to "someone else to read".
    – brilliant
    Jan 11, 2019 at 15:27
  • I don't think that definition by Webster accurately and fully captures how the phrase is used. We don't dash things off to ourselves as intended recipient. It's missing the sense of off. As I said, we wouldn't dash off a listing to our desktop computer screen.
    – TimR
    Jan 11, 2019 at 15:41

1 Answer 1

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I don't think you can do much better than 'recently', beyond that you get into multi-word territory with 'very recently' or 'moments ago' (since dropping the 'just' doesn't really affect the meaning).

Alternatively, I'd formulate it as:

The above section is for quick dashing off of names of folders or files that have just been modified.

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    Do you think "freshly modified" could get the point across?
    – Lorel C.
    Jan 10, 2019 at 4:15
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    'Freshly' sounds a bit odd when talking about files or folders, if you ask me (as a software engineer) - I'm not sure it would improve much on 'recently modified'. I also considered 'newly modified', but you end up with something feeling less recent than 'moments ago' in all cases. In technical parlance 'recently modified' is the most common and how recent is considered really recent, depends on context. 'Have just been modified' is the best I can do.
    – Grismar
    Jan 10, 2019 at 4:56

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