quickly
Americanadverb
Commonly Confused
See quick.
Etymology
Origin of quickly
Explanation
When you do something quickly, you do it really fast — like when you quickly eat breakfast so you won’t be late to school. The adverb quickly can describe any action that’s done at great speed. If you see a wolf running quickly, that means it’s moving rapidly and you’d better hide quickly. Quickly can also carry the sense of doing something without delay or hesitation. Sometimes quickly has a connotation of not putting much thought or effort into something, like when you quickly do your math homework.
Vocabulary lists containing quickly
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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.
"I urged them to hurry. I kept yelling 'quickly, quickly or the next aftershock is coming,'" she recalls.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2024
“It’s very difficult to make conclusions about ‘quickly infecting’ people, much less the impact on drugs and vaccines that haven’t been developed yet.”
From Slate • May 7, 2020
And on the last night—only imagine to yourself—I was sitting near her, and kept praying to God for one thing only: 'Take her,' I said, 'quickly, and me with her.'
From Best Russian Short Stories by Seltzer, Thomas
When one adopts the oath as an ordeal the misfortune of the guilty is supposed to come 'quickly.'
From The Religions of India Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow by Hopkins, Edward Washburn
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.
