rapidly
Americanadverb
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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.
-
with great speed; swiftly.
Bats are more likely than birds to detect rapidly spinning turbine blades and avoid flying into them.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of rapidly
Explanation
When you do something rapidly, you do it very quickly. A rapidly moving train is going at full speed. You may notice that the grass in your yard grows rapidly during the rainy summer days and more slowly when there's a heat wave. You might also get a speeding ticket for driving too rapidly in a school zone. In either case, something's happening fast. The adverb rapidly comes from the adjective rapid, "moving quickly," with the Latin root rapidus, "hasty, swift, fierce, or impetuous."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Only then, when a small surplus is forecast, can energy inventories that are rapidly depleting be restocked.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
In its initial-public-offering filing, SpaceX said its projected $26.5 trillion AI total addressable market will be “constrained by Earth’s inability to rapidly scale power generation.”
From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026
The market is rapidly growing and it is showing no signs of slowing down.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
Leo's predecessor Francis largely overlooked many of Europe's traditional bastions of Catholicism where, like Spain, religious observance has been falling rapidly.
From Barron's • Jun. 6, 2026
When Steve Eisman stumbled into this new, rapidly growing industry of specialty finance, the mortgage bond was about to be put to a new use: making loans that did not qualify for government guarantees.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
