haste

[ heyst ]
See synonyms for: hastehastedhasting on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. swiftness of motion; speed; celerity: He performed his task with great haste. They felt the need for haste.

  2. urgent need of quick action; a hurry or rush: to be in haste to get ahead in the world.

  1. unnecessarily quick action; thoughtless, rash, or undue speed: Haste makes waste.

verb (used with or without object),hast·ed, hast·ing.
  1. Archaic. to hasten.

Idioms about haste

  1. make haste, to act or go with speed; hurry: She made haste to tell the president the good news.

Origin of haste

1
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”

synonym study For haste

1. See speed.

Other words for haste

Opposites for haste

Other words from haste

  • hasteful, adjective
  • haste·ful·ly, adverb
  • hasteless, adjective
  • haste·less·ness, noun
  • un·hast·ed, adjective
  • un·hast·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use haste in a sentence

  • With the beloved hosts of Indra, with the blameless, hasting (Maruts), the sacrificer cries aloud.

  • Here they met a number of Arabs, hasting towards the town in a somewhat excited frame of mind.

    The Middy and the Moors | R.M. Ballantyne
  • As I recall it, no spoken word of Jennifer's or mine came in to break the rhythm of the hasting voyage.

    The Master of Appleby | Francis Lynde
  • I was a youth on a white horse, leaping from cloud to cloud of a blue heaven, hasting calmly to some blessed goal.

    Lilith | George MacDonald
  • With this I was hasting away from him, but he held my hand and looked round at me.

    Lorna Doone | R. D. Blackmore

British Dictionary definitions for haste

haste

/ (heɪst) /


noun
  1. speed, esp in an action; swiftness; rapidity

  2. the act of hurrying in a careless or rash manner

  1. a necessity for hurrying; urgency

  2. make haste to hurry; rush

verb
  1. a poetic word for hasten

Origin of haste

1
C14: from Old French haste, of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse heifst hate, Old English hǣst strife, Old High German heisti powerful

Derived forms of haste

  • hasteful, adjective
  • hastefully, adverb

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with haste

haste

In addition to the idiom beginning with haste

  • haste makes waste

also see:

  • make haste

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.