quick
Americanadjective
-
quicker,
comparative
-
quickest
superlative
-
done, proceeding, or occurring with promptness or rapidity, as an action, process, etc.; prompt; immediate.
a quick response.
- Synonyms:
- expeditious, fleet
- Antonyms:
- slow
-
that is over or completed within a short interval of time.
a quick shower.
-
moving, or able to move, with speed.
a quick fox; a quick train.
-
swift or rapid, as motion.
a quick flick of the wrist.
-
easily provoked or excited; hasty.
a quick temper.
- Synonyms:
- precipitate, short, curt, abrupt
-
keenly responsive; lively; acute.
a quick wit.
-
acting with swiftness or rapidity.
a quick worker.
-
prompt or swift to do something.
quick to respond.
-
prompt to perceive; sensitive.
a quick eye.
-
prompt to understand, learn, etc.; of ready intelligence.
a quick student.
- Antonyms:
- slow
-
(of a bend or curve) sharp.
a quick bend in the road.
-
consisting of living plants.
a quick pot of flowers.
-
brisk, as fire, flames, heat, etc.
-
Archaic.
-
endowed with life.
-
having a high degree of vigor, energy, or activity.
-
noun
-
living persons.
the quick and the dead.
-
the tender, sensitive flesh of the living body, especially that under the nails.
nails bitten down to the quick.
-
the vital or most important part.
-
Chiefly British.
-
a line of shrubs or plants, especially of hawthorn, forming a hedge.
-
a single shrub or plant in such a hedge.
-
adverb
idioms
adjective
-
(of an action, movement, etc) performed or occurring during a comparatively short time
a quick move
-
lasting a comparatively short time; brief
a quick flight
-
accomplishing something in a time that is shorter than normal
a quick worker
-
characterized by rapidity of movement; swift or fast
a quick walker
-
immediate or prompt
a quick reply
-
(postpositive) eager or ready to perform (an action)
quick to criticize
-
responsive to stimulation; perceptive or alert; lively
a quick eye
-
eager or enthusiastic for learning
a quick intelligence
-
easily excited or aroused
a quick temper
-
skilfully swift or nimble in one's movements or actions; deft
quick fingers
-
archaic
-
alive; living
-
(as noun) living people (esp in the phrase the quick and the dead )
-
-
archaic lively or eager
a quick dog
-
(of a fire) burning briskly
-
composed of living plants
a quick hedge
-
dialect (of sand) lacking firmness through being wet
-
archaic pregnant, esp being in an advanced state of pregnancy, when the movements of the fetus can be felt
noun
-
any area of living flesh that is highly sensitive to pain or touch, esp that under a toenail or fingernail or around a healing wound
-
the vital or most important part (of a thing)
-
short for quickset
-
to hurt someone's feelings deeply; offend gravely
adverb
-
in a rapid or speedy manner; swiftly
-
soon
I hope he comes quick
interjection
Commonly Confused
The difference between the adverbial forms quick and quickly is frequently stylistic. Quick is more often used in short spoken sentences, especially imperative ones: Come quick! The chimney is on fire. Quickly is the usual form in writing, both in the preverb position ( We quickly realized that attempts to negotiate would be futile ) and following verbs other than imperatives ( She turned quickly and left ). See also slow, sure.
Synonym Usage
Quick, fast, swift, rapid describe speedy tempo. Quick applies particularly to something practically instantaneous, an action or reaction, perhaps, of very brief duration: to give a quick look around; to take a quick walk. Fast and swift refer to actions, movements, etc., that continue for a time, and usually to those that are uninterrupted; when used of communication, transportation, and the like, they suggest a definite goal and a continuous trip. Swift, the more formal word, suggests the greater speed: a fast train; a swift message. Rapid, less speedy than the others, applies to a rate of movement or action, and usually to a series of actions or movements, related or unrelated: rapid calculation; a rapid walker. See sharp.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of quick
First recorded before 900; Middle English quik “lively, moving, swift”; Old English cwic, cwicu “living”; cognate with Old Saxon quik, German queck, keck, Old Norse kvikr; akin to Latin vīvus “living” ( see vital), Sanskrit jivas “living,” Greek bíos “life” ( see bio-), zoḗ “animal life” ( see zoo-)
Explanation
If you are quick, you move with speed. You may be a quick runner or "a quick study" — if you tend to learn things quickly. The adjective quick can also mean brief and fleeting — as in a quick visit or a quick trip to the store. Quick also means without delay: "You'll need to jot a quick reply to the party invitation." The noun quick is a whole other story; it's a highly sensitive bit of skin, especially the skin under the fingernails or toe nails. Be careful not to chew your nails down to the quick — especially your toe nails.
Vocabulary lists containing quick
Scrabble: Words that Begin with Q
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Fast
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Fast
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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:
And those that do come will likely stay for a quick photo-op before jumping back on their planes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
In England, it was never really respected because people just see me as really quick and really aggressive.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Revisiting the movie through this lens offers plenty of important wisdom that its detractors were quick to shrug off.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
If that seems like a quick ascent, Mr. Hyden reminds us “how slow time moved” before the era of the smartphone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Just four more blocks, but my shoes are held to my feet with the flimsiest of straps; my skirt allows only for short, quick steps.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Imaging the carotid and femoral arteries with ultrasound is easier, quicker and noninvasive compared with performing CT scans to examine the coronary arteries.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
“In the Palisades, this measure would have let us respond quicker, knock it down faster, protect more homes ... We would have saved more homes if we had had more firefighters, period,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
“With Ethos, it is a quicker turnaround. They have a direct-to-consumer portion of their revenue and then third-party channel” with about 15,000 agents, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
Deciding the punishment should be quicker than ascertaining guilt, but nothing is certain in this case.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
I’m gonna be outta here a lot quicker than she thinks.
From "Crash" by Jerry Spinelli
While Archer was touching 95mph in the quickest opening spell of his career on day two at Lord's, Robinson was operating around 78mph at the other end.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Last season, USF snapped the ball every 21.4 seconds, the quickest rate in Division I, and piled up 40.5 points per game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
That last question is the easiest and quickest to answer: No. The why is less simple.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
Within 23 minutes, Arsenal were 2-0 up - the quickest that they had been ahead by that margin since a match against Wolves in 2023.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Her quickest way into the drawing room was across the lawn and terrace and through the French windows.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
