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celerity

[suh-ler-i-tee]
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noun
  1. swiftness; speed.
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Origin of celerity

1480–90; earlier celerite < Middle French < Latin celeritās, equivalent to celer swift + -itās -ity

Synonyms

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alacrity, dispatch, briskness. See speed.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for celerity

Historical Examples

  • Celerity, valor, endurance, they were his iridescent neck and tail feathers.

    The Cavalier

    George Washington Cable

  • The pot-boy's movements resembled those of a tortoise in celerity.

    A Son of Hagar

    Sir Hall Caine

  • I let them both go with a celerity which to this day astonishes my memory.

  • They marveled at the celerity with which the fort was put up.

  • He practised before a mirror and was satisfied with his celerity.

    Jack O' Judgment

    Edgar Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for celerity

celerity

noun
  1. rapidity; swiftness; speed
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Word Origin

C15: from Old French celerite, from Latin celeritās, from celer swift
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

Word Origin and History for celerity

n.

late 15c., from Old French celeritee (14c., Modern French célérité), from Latin celeritatem (nominative celeritas) "swiftness," from celer "swift," from possible PIE root *kel- "to drive, set in swift motion" (cf. Sanskrit carati "goes," Greek keles "fast horse or ship," keleuthos "journey, road," Lithuanian sulys "a gallop," Old High German scelo "stallion").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper