hurry
Americanverb (used without object)
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hurries,
present (3rd person singular)
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hurried,
past participle, past
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hurrying
present participle
verb (used with object)
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hurries,
present (3rd person singular)
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hurried,
past participle, past
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hurrying
present participle
noun
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hurries
plural
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a state of urgency or eagerness.
to be in a hurry to meet a train.
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hurried movement or action; haste.
- Antonyms:
- deliberation
verb
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to hasten (to do something); rush
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to speed up the completion, progress, etc, of
noun
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haste
-
urgency or eagerness
-
informal
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easily
you won't beat him in a hurry
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willingly
we won't go there again in a hurry
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Synonym Usage
See rush 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hurrysimple
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hurriessimple
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have hurriedperfect
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has hurriedperfect
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am hurryingprogressive
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are hurryingprogressive
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is hurryingprogressive
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have been hurryingperfect progressive
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has been hurryingperfect progressive
Past
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hurriedsimple
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had hurriedperfect
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was hurryingprogressive
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were hurryingprogressive
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had been hurryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hurry
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”
Explanation
To hurry is to rush, or to move quickly. If you're late for a movie and you don't want to miss the beginning, you'll have to hurry into the theater, not stopping to buy popcorn. When you're out for a walk and the sun begins to set, you might hurry home before it gets dark — in other words, move rapidly, or in haste. You can also hurry someone else, encouraging them to speed up. Your math teacher may criticize your sloppy work by commenting, "Looks like you were in a hurry." Hurry is one of many words that were invented by William Shakespeare, who used it frequently.
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.
See Examples For:
Boro boss Kim Hellberg urged Lankshear to hurry up, but he took too long and substitute Fin Cartwright was told he could not come on immediately.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
One good thing for buyers in a hurry is that physical inspections of properties are less common than in the U.S., and the focus is more on the financing and legal side.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Mohamed Nias was one of the hundreds of Moroccans who left work in a hurry on Thursday, having "heard that the border with Ceuta was open".
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Not in a hurry, Liu stayed at the top for four hours.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
After they parked, Marco had needed to hurry off and take care of something.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
She prepares dinner, then hurries to an Amazon warehouse for a 6 1/2-hour shift sorting, scanning and hefting bulky items.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
They are tied for sixth with 98 quarterback pressures and seventh with 37 quarterback hurries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2025
Rosa hurries to her aunt's house, hoping to catch the last of the daylight.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2025
Each hurries forth into the night, headed somewhere we can’t possibly know in a world full of uncertainty.
From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2025
Curtis hurries over to me, and we run with Sonny, Malik, and Shana.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
Despite Bonta’s lawsuit, Nexstar hurried the next day to finalize its purchase of Virginia-based Tegna and swallow the operation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Now it means not being hurried, spending time with my family, control over my schedule, and intellectual independence.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Some tourists waited under a pine tree while others hurried up the Via dei Fori Imperiali, wearing hats or carrying umbrellas to escape the infernal sun.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Written in Persian on brittle paper in hurried hands, they formed the Mughal empire's information network: part intelligence brief, part official circular, part news bulletin.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
I hurried down to pick it up; only Father, Betsie, or I ever answered it.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Some Iranians, hurrying about their day, demurred from speaking.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
The first thing he noticed was that she failed to follow the scrubbing protocol, hurrying over her fingers and nails, finishing in a minute when everyone else took at least three.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Houses and hills ablaze, people abandoning homes and cars, walking down the hill toward the sea and hurrying along Pacific Coast Highway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025
We’re most vulnerable when we’re hurrying to check things off the to-do list and get a good deal, especially one too good to be true.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
Dodger saw it too, and he nearly knocked Akira over hurrying up the pool steps to get it.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
