hurry

American  

[hur-ee, huhr-ee] / ˈhɜr i, ˈhʌr i /

verb (used without object)

hurried, hurrying

1. to move, proceed, or act with haste (often followed byup ).

   Hurry, or we'll be late. Hurry up, it's starting to rain.

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verb (used with object)

hurried, hurrying

1. to drive, carry, or cause to move or perform with speed.

   Synonyms:

   hasten

2. to hasten; urge forward (often followed byup ).

   Synonyms:

   hustle, expedite, quicken, accelerate

   Antonyms:

   slow, delay

3. to impel or perform with undue haste.

   to hurry someone into a decision.

noun

plural

hurries

1. a state of urgency or eagerness.

   to be in a hurry to meet a train.

2. hurried movement or action; haste.

   Synonyms:

   ado, bustle, quickness, speed, dispatch, expedition, celerity

   Antonyms:

   deliberation

hurry British  

/ ˈhʌrɪ /

verb

1. to hasten (to do something); rush

2. to speed up the completion, progress, etc, of

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noun

1. haste

2. urgency or eagerness

3. informal

   1. easily

      you won't beat him in a hurry

   2. willingly

      we won't go there again in a hurry

Related Words

See rush ¹.

Other Word Forms

• hurrying noun
• hurryingly adverb
• overhurry verb
• unhurrying adjective
• unhurryingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of hurry

First recorded in 1580–90; expressive word of uncertain origin, compare Middle English horyed (attested once) “rushed, impelled,” Middle High German hurren “to move quickly”

Example Sentences

Frightened and not knowing where to go, they hastily took cover under the steps of a villa whose owners had themselves left everything on the table and hurried off.

From Barron's

“I had to do a runner,” Atwood jokes, describing her hurried exit on a recent morning phone call from Australia, where she’s been working on Tom Hanks’ World War II drama “Greyhound 2.”

From Los Angeles Times

I need Dr. Cohen to hurry up and say which of us won.

From Literature

“All my life I’ve been in a hurry to get to my future,” he wrote in his 2013 memoir, “American Son.”

From Los Angeles Times

In other words, it’s sleek, it’s hurried and it’s cutesy.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dash
• hasten
• hustle
• jog
• rush
• scoot
• scurry
• whirl
• whisk
• zip