hurry

[ hur-ee, huhr-ee ]
See synonyms for hurry on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object),hur·ried, hur·ry·ing.
  1. to move, proceed, or act with haste (often followed by up): Hurry, or we'll be late. Hurry up, it's starting to rain.

verb (used with object),hur·ried, hur·ry·ing.
  1. to drive, carry, or cause to move or perform with speed.

  2. to hasten; urge forward (often followed by up).

  1. to impel or perform with undue haste: to hurry someone into a decision.

noun,plural hur·ries.
  1. a state of urgency or eagerness: to be in a hurry to meet a train.

  2. hurried movement or action; haste.

Origin of hurry

1
First recorded in 1580–90; expressive word of uncertain origin, compare Middle English horyed (attested once) “rushed, impelled,” Middle High German hurren “to move quickly”

synonym study For hurry

1. See rush1.

Other words for hurry

Opposites for hurry

Other words from hurry

  • hur·ry·ing·ly, adverb
  • o·ver·hur·ry, verb, o·ver·hur·ried, o·ver·hur·ry·ing.
  • un·hur·ry·ing, adjective
  • un·hur·ry·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hurry in a sentence

  • Her soft unhurrying voice halted for a time, and then resumed in the same even tones of careful statement.

  • She led the way with a quiet unhurrying step up a broad stairway, and opened a door.

    Anne | Constance Fenimore Woolson
  • The result is an unhurrying way of buying and selling which would make a Smithfield salesman white with despair.

    The Amazing Argentine | John Foster Fraser
  • The story is epic in its magnitude, in its calm, steady progress and unhurrying rhythm, in its vast and intimate humanity.

    Mothwise | Knut Hamsun
  • It was her unseen familiar, voiceless, but ever present, with a look unhurrying but constant.

    Ewing\'s Lady | Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for hurry

hurry

/ (ˈhʌrɪ) /


verb-ries, -rying or -ried
  1. (intr often foll by up) to hasten (to do something); rush

  2. (tr often foll by along) to speed up the completion, progress, etc, of

noun
  1. haste

  2. urgency or eagerness

  1. in a hurry informal

    • easily: you won't beat him in a hurry

    • willingly: we won't go there again in a hurry

Origin of hurry

1
C16 horyen, probably of imitative origin; compare Middle High German hurren; see scurry

Derived forms of hurry

  • hurrying, noun, adjective
  • hurryingly, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012