speedier; speediest
: marked by swiftness of motion or action
speedily adverb
speediness noun
Choose the Right Synonym for speedy

fast, rapid, swift, fleet, quick, speedy, hasty, expeditious mean moving, proceeding, or acting with celerity.

fast and rapid are very close in meaning, but fast applies particularly to the thing that moves

fast horses

and rapid to the movement itself.

rapid current

swift suggests great rapidity coupled with ease of movement.

returned the ball with one swift stroke

fleet adds the implication of lightness and nimbleness.

fleet runners

quick suggests promptness and the taking of little time.

a quick wit

speedy implies quickness of successful accomplishment

speedy delivery of mail

and may also suggest unusual velocity.

hasty suggests hurry and precipitousness and often connotes carelessness.

a hasty inspection

expeditious suggests efficiency together with rapidity of accomplishment.

the expeditious handling of an order

Examples of speedy in a Sentence

They wished her a speedy recovery. a speedy worker but not a very careful one, unfortunately
Recent Examples on the Web General manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid both shared their hopes for Worthy on Thursday night, saying the speedy receiver should immediately improve the team’s offense and special teams. Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 26 Apr. 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida is the height of luxury, style and comfort, thanks to its grand design, speedy and friendly service and overall attention to detail. Rudie Obias, Variety, 22 Apr. 2024 Menges is composed, speedy and aggressive as a ball-winner, with tremendous discipline and understanding while directing traffic from the back line. Jason Mastrodonato, The Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2024 Running off of a Intel 12th Generation Core i7 processor with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 handling the visuals, output is stable and speedy. K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 11 Apr. 2024 Quantum Leap, which was produced in-house at Universal Television, earned a speedy season two renewal as NBC kept production going in a bid to have scripted originals during the writers and actors strikes. Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Apr. 2024 Aircraft manufacturers debuted new models early in the week: This year, Piper showed off its speedy new turboprop, the 700 hp M700 Fury, and Cirrus presented its latest in the SR series, the G7, along with a concierge-style turnkey ownership program called Cirrus One. Julie Boatman, Robb Report, 15 Apr. 2024 The company led the speedy construction of a new fabrication facility for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on the southern island of Kyushu, bringing the project to fruition before the US government could dole out its first subsidy check to TSMC and other chipmakers for American fabs. Takashi Mochizuki, Fortune Asia, 15 Apr. 2024 Such speedy development points to the third paradox: West Sac benefited both because of its distance from, and its proximity to, the city of Sacramento. Joe Mathews, The Mercury News, 13 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'speedy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English spedi "beneficial, unencumbered, agile, prompt," from sped "luck, success, assistance, rate of progress" + -i -y entry 1 — more at speed entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of speedy was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near speedy

Cite this Entry

“Speedy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speedy. Accessed 1 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

speedy

adjective
speedier; speediest
: moving or taking place fast
speedily adverb
speediness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on speedy

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