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.
Rapidly going through terabytes of data, it detects patterns, and compares them to the movements of someone who is a known threat or has shown up near flagged zones.
From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026
Rapidly rising costs outpaced most people’s income growth; the pandemic exposed how vulnerable workers were to economic shocks; and now, AI is threatening to replace jobs.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 10, 2026
Rapidly changing tariffs hurt American firms, especially small businesses.
From Barron's • Feb. 3, 2026
Rapidly, Hemedti's family company Al-Gunaid became Sudan's largest gold exporter.
From BBC • Nov. 3, 2025
Rapidly, I translated: “My master offers you money.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
