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definitions

posthaste

[pohst-heyst]
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adverb

with the greatest possible speed or promptness: to come to a friend's aid posthaste.

noun

Archaic. great haste.

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RELATED WORDS

rapid, energetic, cursory, hasty, agile, brisk, brief, immediate, instantaneous, nimble, sudden, abrupt, hurried, active, expeditious, keen, swift, hot, quick, rapidly

Nearby words

  1. postganglionic motor neuron,
  2. postgastrectomy syndrome,
  3. postglacial,
  4. postgrad,
  5. postgraduate,
  6. postheat,
  7. posthepatitic cirrhosis,
  8. posthioplasty,
  9. posthitis,
  10. posthole

Origin of posthaste

First recorded in 1530–40; post3 + haste
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for post-haste

British Dictionary definitions for post-haste

posthaste

adverb

with great haste; as fast as possible

noun

archaic great haste
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 post-haste

posthaste

adv.

1590s, from a noun (1530s) meaning "great speed," usually said to be from "post haste" instruction formerly written on letters (attested from 1530s), from post (adv.) + haste (n.). The verb post "to ride or travel with great speed" is recorded from 1550s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture definitions for post-haste

posthaste

[(pohst-hayst)]

Immediately, with great speed: “Get the flood warning to the media posthaste.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.