haste
Americannoun
-
swiftness of motion; speed; celerity.
He performed his task with great haste. They felt the need for haste.
- Antonyms:
- sloth
-
urgent need of quick action; a hurry or rush.
to be in haste to get ahead in the world.
-
unnecessarily quick action; thoughtless, rash, or undue speed.
Haste makes waste.
- Synonyms:
- precipitation, precipitancy
verb (used with or without object)
-
hastes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hasted,
past participle, past
-
hasting
present participle
idioms
noun
-
speed, esp in an action; swiftness; rapidity
-
the act of hurrying in a careless or rash manner
-
a necessity for hurrying; urgency
-
to hurry; rush
verb
Usage
What does haste mean? Haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. It can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness, as in We have to move with haste if we want to make it on time. The phrase make haste means to move quickly, hurry up, or rush. Often, haste 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. The adjective form hasty is most often used in this sense—a hasty decision is one that is thought to have been made too quickly, perhaps leading to negative consequences. The adverb form is hastily. The verb hasten means to go faster or cause to go faster, as in We need to hasten our efforts. Example: In my haste to finish the project, I forgot to put my name on it.
Synonym Usage
See speed.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
hastelessnessnoun
-
hastefuladjective
-
hastelessadjective
-
unhastedadjective
-
unhastingadjective
-
hastefullyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hastesimple
-
hastessimple
-
have hastedperfect
-
has hastedperfect
-
am hastingprogressive
-
are hastingprogressive
-
is hastingprogressive
-
have been hastingperfect progressive
-
has been hastingperfect progressive
Past
-
hastedsimple
-
had hastedperfect
-
was hastingprogressive
-
were hastingprogressive
-
had been hastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of haste
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French from Germanic; akin to Old Frisian hāste, Old English hæst “violence,” Old Norse heifst “hatred,” Gothic haifsts “quarrel”
Explanation
When something is done in haste, it's done fast, and often with carelessness. In his haste to finish the paper, he didn't notice he had replaced "taste" with "waste" during spell-checking, so his title became "Foods of Our Home State: What a Waste!" The old saying goes "haste makes waste," and when you try to do things too quickly, sometimes you do them wrong or have to do them all over again. You can use the noun haste for things done with extraordinary speed and often in a situation where there's pressure to perform or complete a task. "In her haste to catch the train she ran six blocks, but when she boarded, she noticed she was wearing one blue tennis shoe and one red one."
Vocabulary lists containing haste
List 2
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
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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:
A team of animal lovers has come to the rescue of pets people left behind in their haste in the area west of the wine-making capital of Bordeaux.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Tehran has found backing for that word in the very vague details of the deal - known as a memorandum of understanding - which was drafted in haste in June.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Still, Browne cautioned against haste even as he urged action.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
Earlier this year, NV Energy informed Liberty that it would no longer serve as its wholesale energy provider after mid-May next year, and urged Liberty to make haste to secure an alternate supplier.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
We made all the haste we could downstairs, but we were not quick enough either.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
His erran's deen, as fast as he cu'd spang, hastes to Luckie's howf to join the thrang, An' Luckie smirks her kin'liest welcome ben, Prinkin' her feathers like a tappit hen.
From Legends of the North; The Guidman O' Inglismill and The Fairy Bride by Patrick Buchan
Zephyrus, fond lover, comes to woo; With airy step he hastes the pastures through, And steals a kiss from Luna as she nods Drowsy with fragrant dew.
From Pan and Æolus: Poems by Charles Hamilton Musgrove
The battle's o'er, the English arms successful; And Rivers, like an English warrior, hastes To lay his laurels at the feet of beauty.
From The Fatal Falsehood by Hannah More
Hearing his shout, Duke Naimes hastes up, and brings The charger Tecendur for Carle the great To mount.
From La Chanson de Roland : Translated from the Seventh Edition of Léon Gautier by Léonce Rabillon
Then deeply plunge “Beneath the foaming gush thy head, where full “It spouts its waters; and thy error cleanse, “As clean thy limbs thou washest.”—To the stream The king as bidden hastes.
From The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II by J. J. Howard
A group of Templars hasted to him, seized him and repelled him from me.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
From Time Magazine Archive
It stood still in the midst of the heaven and hasted not to go down.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Precisely when the shadow of the Holy Cross falls due east," cried the dwarf; and turning round, he hasted on his way.
From The Shepherd's Calendar Volume I (of II) by James Hogg
I soon met with Sir William, and on my expressing an inclination to retire, to my great astonishment, instead of censuring, he commended my resolution, and hasted to the door to procure my carriage.
From The Sylph, Volume I and II by Georgiana Cavendish
Soon they came hasting down the gully, Copstone leading.
From With Drake on the Spanish Main by Herbert Strang
My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late Spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
From Plashers Mead A Novel by Compton MacKenzie
Dost thou lament that life, urg'd-on too quickly, Rolls round its course in hasting revolution?
From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II (of 2) by Richard Crashaw
Reuben Ramble Ran a Ridiculous Rattling Race on a Railway, And beat the train in hasting to get a book at Cole's Book Arcade.
From Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1 by E. W. (Edward William) Cole
So Romulus when proud ambition, His former vertue and renowne had stayned: Did by the Senators receiue his end, But soft what boades Titinnius hasting speede.
From The Tragedy Of Caesar's Revenge by Anonymous
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.
