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
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.
Beijing has come under pressure from major trading partners to let the yuan strengthen rapidly in a bid to help rebalance trade surpluses by making Chinese exports less competitive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Market conditions can change rapidly in the time it takes deals to reach completion.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
"Nowadays it's very typical that all kinds of vulnerabilities are being exploited ever more actively and rapidly."
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
New South Wales police say the officers will also patrol major events like sports matches and places of worship "to prevent, deter and rapidly respond to serious threats, including active armed offender incidents".
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
All these subprime lending companies were growing so rapidly, and using such goofy accounting, that they could mask the fact that they had no real earnings, just illusory, accounting-driven, ones.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
