- haste
- haste n Haste, hurry, speed, expedition, dispatch are comparable when meaning quickness or swiftness in movement or in action.Haste implies quickness or swiftness in persons rather than in machines, vehicles, or methods of transportation; thus, a business that requires haste demands that the persons concerned move or act swiftly{
she came in straightway with haste unto the king— Mk 6:25
}{"Why this mad haste, Eusoff?" I asked. "Bandits," he shouted—W. O. Douglas
}But haste may imply other goads than urgency or pressure for time; it may imply intense eagerness{his tongue, all impatient to speak . . . did stumble with haste— Shak.
}{I feel no haste and no reluctance to depart— Millay
}or lack of due reflection and precipitancy in decision{marry in haste and repent at leisure— Old Proverb
}or the impulsion of anger{I said in my haste, all men are liars— Ps 116:11
}Hurry, though often used in place of haste as the simpler term, distinctively carries a stronger implication of confusion, agitation, and bustle{whoever is in a hurry, shows that the thing he is about is too big for him. Haste and hurry are very different things— Chesterfield
}{the incessant hurry . . . of daily life— Eliot
}and more frequntly refers to the things which are operated or the actions which are performed with haste than to the persons concerned; thus, one makes haste in the preparation of a report needed immediately, but the hurry of its preparation may result in several errors being overlooked. Also, hurry may imply the state of mind or the need of one who demands haste as well as of the one who makes haste{I am in a great hurry for the articles ordered
}{you need not be in a hurry to fill my order
}Speed (see also SPEED n 2) usually implies mere swiftness or rapidity, primarily in motion or movement but secondarily in action, performance, or accomplishment. Unlike haste and hurry, the term, which may be used in reference to things as well as to persons, carries no connotations of precipitancy, urgency, or agitation, although it may carry a suggestion of success{the more haste the less speed— Old Proverb
}{five dark albatrosses . . . clearly took pride as well as pleasure in a performance which had the beauty of speed uncontaminated by haste— Harper's
}{many an adult reader with trained habits of attention and concentration will absorb the contents of a book with a speed ... no child can approach— Elioty
}Expedition and dispatch imply both speed and efficiency especially in business or affairs, but dispatch carries a stronger suggestion of promptness in bringing matters to a conclusion, and expedition more often carries a hint of ease or efficiency of performance{they made their plans with expedition
}{Sophia put her things on with remarkable expedition— Bennett
}{serious business, craving quick dispatch— Shak.
}{there is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch— Addison
}{to do everything when it ought to be done is the soul of expedition— Scott
}{the soul of dispatch is decision— Hazlitt
}{to move with reasonable expedition along the narrow pavements of Rotting Hill is impossible— Wyndham Lewis
}Analogous words: *celerity, alacrity, legerity: rapidity, swiftness, quickness, expeditiousness (see corresponding adjectives at FAST): readiness, promptness (see corresponding adjectives at QUICK): agility, briskness (see corresponding adjectives at AGILE)Antonyms: deliberation
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
