rapidly
Americanadverb
-
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
- ultrarapidly adverb
Etymology
Origin of rapidly
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.
“Gas prices will rapidly come back down and stock prices will rapidly go back up,” he said.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
Claim: “They were also rapidly building a vast stockpile of conventional ballistic missiles and would have soon had missiles that could reach the American homeland, Europe, and virtually any other place on earth.”
From Slate • Apr. 2, 2026
“We’ve only seen that continue where the technology behind AI continues to rapidly improve,” he told MarketWatch in a Tuesday interview.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have identified a previously unknown system inside cells that acts like internal "trade winds," rapidly carrying important proteins to the front edge of the cell.
From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026
Bobby walked rapidly to the board, sat in his chair at precisely 3:30 p.m. on September 2, 1992, stretched his right arm across, and shook Spassky’s hand.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
