hurry
Americanverb (used without object)
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hurries,
present (3rd person singular)
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hurried,
past participle, past
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hurrying
present participle
verb (used with object)
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hurries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hurried,
past participle, past
-
hurrying
present participle
noun
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hurries
plural
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a state of urgency or eagerness.
to be in a hurry to meet a train.
-
hurried movement or action; haste.
- Antonyms:
- deliberation
verb
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to hasten (to do something); rush
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to speed up the completion, progress, etc, of
noun
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haste
-
urgency or eagerness
-
informal
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easily
you won't beat him in a hurry
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willingly
we won't go there again in a hurry
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Synonym Usage
See rush 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hurrysimple
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hurriessimple
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have hurriedperfect
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has hurriedperfect
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am hurryingprogressive
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are hurryingprogressive
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is hurryingprogressive
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have been hurryingperfect progressive
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has been hurryingperfect progressive
Past
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hurriedsimple
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had hurriedperfect
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was hurryingprogressive
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were hurryingprogressive
-
had been hurryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hurry
First recorded in 1580–90; expressive word of uncertain origin, compare Middle English horyed (attested once) “rushed, impelled,” Middle High German hurren “to move quickly”
Explanation
To hurry is to rush, or to move quickly. If you're late for a movie and you don't want to miss the beginning, you'll have to hurry into the theater, not stopping to buy popcorn. When you're out for a walk and the sun begins to set, you might hurry home before it gets dark — in other words, move rapidly, or in haste. You can also hurry someone else, encouraging them to speed up. Your math teacher may criticize your sloppy work by commenting, "Looks like you were in a hurry." Hurry is one of many words that were invented by William Shakespeare, who used it frequently.
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.
See Examples For:
Mohamed Nias was one of the hundreds of Moroccans who left work in a hurry on Thursday, having "heard that the border with Ceuta was open".
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Some simply left empty-handed in their hurry to evacuate.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Not in a hurry, Liu stayed at the top for four hours.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Canada “should not be in a hurry on any of this,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
“C’mon out and play, Ida B. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
She prepares dinner, then hurries to an Amazon warehouse for a 6 1/2-hour shift sorting, scanning and hefting bulky items.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
Rosa hurries to her aunt's house, hoping to catch the last of the daylight.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2025
He takes the dishes off her hands and hurries to drop them off at the sink before delivering those six water glasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025
Each hurries forth into the night, headed somewhere we can’t possibly know in a world full of uncertainty.
From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2025
But Baldwin hikes up his pants and hurries to catch up with him.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
People hurried to identify victims before they decomposed, in an era before refrigeration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Now it means not being hurried, spending time with my family, control over my schedule, and intellectual independence.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Some tourists waited under a pine tree while others hurried up the Via dei Fori Imperiali, wearing hats or carrying umbrellas to escape the infernal sun.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Written in Persian on brittle paper in hurried hands, they formed the Mughal empire's information network: part intelligence brief, part official circular, part news bulletin.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Jonathan slid off the tree and hurried back to Abby.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
The following day, a 30-year-old ski patroller named Cole Murphy was with a team of colleagues hurrying to clear the freshly fallen snow from a series of expert slopes known, appropriately, as the Avalanche Chutes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
Hamstring injuries are finicky, especially for a mobile quarterback, and hurrying back from one is never smart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
Nepalis who once came to India in search of work are now hurrying back across the border, as the nation reels with its worst unrest in decades.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
We’re most vulnerable when we’re hurrying to check things off the to-do list and get a good deal, especially one too good to be true.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
I reached for my handkerchief, but by the time I pulled it from my pocket, she was already hurrying down the hall.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
