hasty
Americanadjective
-
hastier,
comparative
-
hastiest
superlative
-
moving or acting with haste; speedy; quick; hurried.
- Antonyms:
- slow
-
made or done with haste or speed.
a hasty visit.
-
unduly quick; precipitate; rash.
a hasty decision.
- Antonyms:
- deliberate
-
brief; fleeting; passing; slight.
a hasty glance.
-
impatient; impetuous; thoughtless; injudicious.
hasty words.
-
easily irritated or angered; irascible.
a hasty temper.
adjective
-
rapid; swift; quick
-
excessively or rashly quick
-
short-tempered
-
showing irritation or anger
hasty words
Usage
What does hasty mean? Hasty most commonly means too fast and often careless. Synonyms include rash, rushed, or hurried. The noun haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. Haste can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness. But haste also commonly 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. This is usually how hasty is used. Being too hasty when doing something is thought to lead to mistakes. A hasty decision is one that is thought to have been made too quickly, often leading to negative consequences. A hasty generalization involves jumping to broad conclusions by judging something too quickly. Hasty can also mean brief or moving with or done with speed, as in a hasty visit. The adverb hastily can simply mean rapidly but is usually used to mean carelessly, rashly, or too quickly. Example: Don’t be too hasty when decorating the cake—take your time and do it properly.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of hasty
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French hasti, hastif; see haste, -ive
Explanation
Hasty means speedy and brash. If you try to make a hasty exit after breaking up with someone, you’ll seem like a jerk. Hasty, meaning “speedy, quick,” first came onto the scene in the mid 14th century. Later, it found itself paired with pudding to form hasty pudding, a dessert that only takes a short amount of time to make. Note that hasty, unlike fast, has negative connotations. If someone accuses you of having completed an assignment in a hasty fashion, it means your work appears careless.
Vocabulary lists containing hasty
A Need for Speed: Synonyms for "Fast"
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Vocabulary from the Songs of The Spice Girls
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"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter
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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:
U.S. stocks end modestly lower after a worrying monthly survey of consumer confidence was offset by a Federal Reserve official cautioning against hasty rate hikes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
He described the car and then boomed out his order over the airwaves, “Don’t be so hasty there. … Don’t crowd!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
The share of "hasty readers", who rush through texts to give quick, incorrect answers, has almost doubled between 2018 and 2025.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The author’s authoritative tone is undermined by the odor of hasty research.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
He scratched some hasty calculations on the wall with his claw, then turned to Matthias.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The FDA reached its decision in 97 days, about 40 percent of the usual timeline for such a review, but wisely refused to be browbeat into a hastier conclusion.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2021
Other nations, reckoning with their own wrongdoings, have been far hastier to arrive at this point.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 31, 2017
"The Delhi government is already working toward tackling this situation and now that we've picked up this report, the government will take hastier steps to tackle the situation," A.K.
From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2012
Scarcely were the words out of his mouth than Ridgway was proved a greater exaggerator and hastier reporter than Hanley.
From Time Magazine Archive
No whit from me In the waves of the sea-flood afar might he float The hastier in holm, nor would I from him hie me.
From The Tale of Beowulf Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats by Anonymous
When one of the creatures got through, Connery beat the hastiest of retreats.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2020
Alex Smith beat the hastiest retreat since Xerxes fled to the Hellespont.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was the hastiest state visit the U.S. had ever laid on.
From Time Magazine Archive
No need to say more; Joel's heels beat the hastiest of retreats, as he scuttled off at the liveliest pace of which he was capable.
From Five Little Peppers and their Friends by Margaret Sidney
Setting her back on her feet was one of the hastiest movements he had ever made in his life.
From Sinister Paradise by Robert Moore Williams
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.
