hastily

[heyst-l-ee]

adverb

1. with haste; rapidly; speedily.

   Late one snowy night in Maryland, moving crews hastily loaded a line of vans and, under cover of darkness, departed the city.

2. without sufficient care or attention.

   This book feels far less potent, and far more hastily written, than the earlier work.

3. unnecessarily quickly or rashly; impetuously.

   Six months earlier, she had hastily married a former high school classmate.

Other Word Forms

• unhastily adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hastily¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; hasty ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

It began with a hastily written note and a whisper.

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In a hastily scheduled meeting, Kenvue interim Chief Executive Kirk Perry sought to dissuade the health secretary, arguing there is no clear link.

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The water was followed by a trip to the kitchen, where, wrapped in the quilt, I slumped into a chair while she hastily prepared a bowl of vegetable soup.

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Three first-responder nurses during the pandemic live in a hastily planned trailer park near the San Bernardino hospital where all day, every day they confront the comatose and the dying.

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Opponents of Proposition 50, who have been swamped in fundraising by their rivals, seized upon the error as proof that the measure was hastily placed on the ballot.

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Related Words

• carelessly www.thesaurus.com
• hurriedly www.thesaurus.com
• nimbly 
• prematurely www.thesaurus.com
• promptly 
• quickly 
• speedily www.thesaurus.com
• suddenly 
• swiftly 

When To Use

What does hastily mean?

Hastily means rashly or too quickly and often carelessly.The related adjective hasty most commonly means too fast and often careless.The noun haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. Haste can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness. But haste also commonly means urgency or speed that is careless or reckless. This is how the word is used in the expression haste makes waste, which means that rushing things leads to mistakes. This is how hasty and hastily are most commonly used.Doing things hastily is thought to lead to mistakes. Making a decision hastily is making it too quickly, often leading to negative consequences.Hastily can also mean speedily, as in We packed up hastily and left as quickly as we could. Example: Don’t make big decisions hastily—you should always take some time to think about them.