rapidly

[ rap-id-lee ]

adverb

1. within a short period of time:

   There are thousands of languages spoken in the world today, but many of them are rapidly approaching obsolescence and extinction.

2. with great speed; swiftly:

   Bats are more likely than birds to detect rapidly spinning turbine blades and avoid flying into them.

Other Words From

• ul·tra·rap·id·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of rapidly¹

rapid ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

It’s a nice first step toward demonstrating that humans seem to be driving the very rapid evolution of camouflage in this species.

From Science News

Maryland health officials also say they are ramping up on-site visits and doubling the number of employees dispatched to nursing homes as “rapid response teams.”

From Washington Post

He would’ve gone, too, had his mother not worried over his ability to adjust to such a rapid change, pushing him to take on two more years of high school.

From Fortune

This could help determine if diet, temperature or some other environmental condition on the two islands, rather than rapid evolution, could be behind the toads’ diminutive size.

From Science News

Workers are trained to administer rapid coronavirus tests if anyone shows symptoms of coronavirus infection during the school day.

From Washington Post

This suggests that the pilots were overtaken very rapidly by an emergency.

From The Daily Beast

The Newsroom is over, newsrooms as we traditionally understand them are rapidly declining, and New Media is here to stay.

From The Daily Beast

Kendrick rapidly chants these last lines in repetition with Bilal and Anna Wise sing-shouting behind him, like a rallying cry.

From The Daily Beast

Nearly 85 percent of its population are expats drawn to work in the rapidly growing tax-havens.

From The Daily Beast

But Jeff, who began his foray into pot gastronomy as a hobby, is rapidly turning it into a full-time pot-repreneurial business.

From The Daily Beast

Within the past thirty years civilization has rapidly taken possession of this lovely region.

From Project Gutenberg

Mrs. Jolly Robin had often wished—when she was trying to feed a rapidly-growing family—that she could hunt forp.

From Project Gutenberg

Piedmont alone vies with her, and is improving far more rapidly, but Lombardy has great natural capacities peculiarly her own.

From Project Gutenberg

Decomposition sets in rapidly, especially in warm weather, and greatly interferes with all the examinations.

From Project Gutenberg

Do this five times—each time from memory and more rapidly than before.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• briskly
• expeditiously
• fast
• immediately
• promptly
• speedily
• swiftly