rapidly
Americanadverb
-
within a short period of time.
There are thousands of languages spoken in the world today, but many of them are rapidly approaching obsolescence and extinction.
-
with great speed; swiftly.
Bats are more likely than birds to detect rapidly spinning turbine blades and avoid flying into them.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rapidly
Explanation
When you do something rapidly, you do it very quickly. A rapidly moving train is going at full speed. You may notice that the grass in your yard grows rapidly during the rainy summer days and more slowly when there's a heat wave. You might also get a speeding ticket for driving too rapidly in a school zone. In either case, something's happening fast. The adverb rapidly comes from the adjective rapid, "moving quickly," with the Latin root rapidus, "hasty, swift, fierce, or impetuous."
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.
Some top officials such as Fed governor Chris Waller say the central bank might even need to raise borrowing costs unless prices start to slow more rapidly.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Our visual system rapidly analyzes many different features of a scene, including color, contrast, motion, and shape.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
It grew rapidly and burned 2,690 acres before forward progress was halted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
“If a fire spread rapidly there, there didn’t appear to be a clear escape route.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
But the purpose of the drills was to see how rapidly people could reach the room at any hour of the day or night without prior notice.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
