quick
done, proceeding, or occurring with promptness or rapidity, as an action, process, etc.; prompt; immediate: a quick response.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
Idioms about quick
cut to the quick, to injure deeply; hurt the feelings of: Their callous treatment cut her to the quick.
Origin of quick
1synonym study For quick
confusables note For quick
Other words for quick
Opposites for quick
Other words from quick
- quickness, noun
- un·quick, adjective
- un·quick·ly, adverb
- un·quick·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use quick in a sentence
The quick growth of Berkeley came to a fast halt with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
Berkeley: A City That Fights for the Rights of All | LGBTQ-Editor | November 20, 2020 | No Straight NewsIt’s more like quick questions that can be solved, and I tend to get quite a lot of that.
Why is GoCardless COO Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas pivoting to become a full-time VC? | Steve O'Hear | November 20, 2020 | TechCrunchThe quick history of Quartz is that the business news publisher was launched in 2012 by co-founders Seward and Kevin Delaney under Atlantic Media with the intention of covering the global economy.
‘A start-up again’: New Quartz owner Zach Seward’s plan for longevity includes revenue innovation and reader support | Kayleigh Barber | November 20, 2020 | DigidaySafari on the MacBook Air is the quickest and snappiest web browsing experience I’ve ever had.
Apple’s M1 chip makes the new MacBook Air shockingly good | Stan Horaczek | November 18, 2020 | Popular-ScienceAfter all, if becoming world-class great were quick and easy, everyone would do it.
What businesses slammed by the pandemic can learn from America’s champion car salesman | Geoffrey Colvin | November 17, 2020 | Fortune
He weighed only 185 pounds, but he had killer instincts and rabbit quickness and the stamina of a mule.
Football Great Bob Suffridge Wanders Through the End Zone of Life | Paul Hemphill | September 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNeurologist Oliver Sacks says the syndrome helps give the Team USA goalie ‘abnormal quickness.’
Why Tourette’s May Be Tim Howard’s Secret Weapon on the Field | Michael Daly | July 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Abnormal quickness,” Sacks told The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
Why Tourette’s May Be Tim Howard’s Secret Weapon on the Field | Michael Daly | July 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“With so many more head cases, quickness is the key to survival and a productive life” after a devastating injury.
Pronounced Dead in Vietnam, Lt. Bill Haneke Inspires Post-9/11 Veterans | Sandra McElwaine | November 11, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTBut questionable defense and lack of explosiveness and lateral quickness may cause Fredette to "fredette about it."
The sharpened faculties have something of a lawyer's quickness in detecting a flaw in the indictment.
Children's Ways | James SullyBorn on March 29, 1769, he early distinguished himself by his precocity and his quickness of perception.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonHis linguistic cleverness was a fair specimen of his general quickness of intellect.
Overland | John William De ForestAnxiety for the fate of a purse full of gold Napoleons of forty francs each gave redoubled quickness to his steps.
Minnie's Pet Dog | Madeline LeslieAmong the former are acuteness and quickness of vision, the power of grasping complex subjects, and a good memory.
Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician | Frederick Niecks
British Dictionary definitions for quick
/ (kwɪk) /
(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, or dialect 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
quick with child archaic pregnant, esp being in an advanced state of pregnancy, when the movements of the fetus can be felt
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 (def. 1)
cut someone to the quick to hurt someone's feelings deeply; offend gravely
in a rapid or speedy manner; swiftly
soon: I hope he comes quick
a command requiring the hearer to perform an action immediately or in as short a time as possible
Origin of quick
1Derived forms of quick
- quickly, adverb
- quickness, noun
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with quick
In addition to the idioms beginning with quick
- quick and the dead
- quick as a wink
- quick off the mark
- quick one, a
- quick on the draw
- quick on the uptake
also see:
- cut to the quick
- (quick) on the uptake
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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