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speed
[ speed ]
/ spid /
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noun
verb (used with object), sped [sped] /spɛd/ or speed·ed, speed·ing.
verb (used without object), sped [sped] /spɛd/ or speed·ed, speed·ing.
OTHER WORDS FOR speed
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Idioms about speed
- at the greatest speed possible: We drove down the highway at full speed.
- to the maximum of one's capabilities; with great rapidity: He worked at full speed.
- operating at full or optimum speed.
- functioning or producing at an expected, acceptable, or competitive level; up to par: a new firm not yet up to speed.
at full / top speed,
up to speed,
Origin of speed
First recorded before 900; 1965–70 for def. 6; (noun) Middle English spede “good luck, prosperity, rapidity,” Old English spēd; cognate with Dutch spoed, Old High German spōt; akin to Old English spōwan “to prosper, succeed”; (verb) Middle English speden “to succeed, prosper, go with speed,” Old English spēdan “to succeed, prosper”; cognate with Old Saxon spōdian, Old High German spuoten
synonym study for speed
1, 2. Speed, velocity, quickness, rapidity, celerity, haste refer to swift or energetic movement or operation. Speed (originally prosperity or success) may apply to human or nonhuman activity and emphasizes the rate in time at which something travels or operates: the speed of light, of a lens, of an automobile, of thought. Velocity, a more learned or technical term, is sometimes interchangeable with speed : the velocity of light; it is commonly used to refer to high rates of speed, linear or circular: velocity of a projectile. Quickness, a native word, and rapidity, a synonym of Latin origin, suggest speed of movement or operation on a small or subordinate scale; quickness applies more to people ( quickness of mind, of perception, of bodily movement ), rapidity more to things, often in a technical or mechanical context: the rapidity of moving parts; a lens of great rapidity. Celerity, a somewhat literary synonym of Latin origin, refers usually to human movement or operation and emphasizes expedition, dispatch, or economy in an activity: the celerity of his response. Haste refers to the energetic activity of human beings under stress; it often suggests lack of opportunity for care or thought: to marry in haste; a report prepared in haste. 16. See rush1.
OTHER WORDS FROM speed
Words nearby speed
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use speed in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for speed
speed
/ (spiːd) /
noun
verb speeds, speeding, sped or speeded
See also speed up
Derived forms of speed
speeder, nounWord Origin for speed
Old English spēd (originally in the sense: success); related to spōwan to succeed, Latin spēs hope, Old Slavonic spěti to be lucky
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
Scientific definitions for speed
speed
[ spēd ]
The ratio of the distance traveled by an object (regardless of its direction) to the time required to travel that distance. Compare velocity.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with speed
speed
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.