- quickly
- Don't drive so fast!
- How fast were you going?
- I can't go any faster.
- The water was rising fast.
- Her heart beat faster.
- (formal) Night was fast approaching.
- He came round the corner blindingly fast.
- By a few easy steps you can make your PC run faster.
Which Word? quick / quickly / fastquick / quickly / fast- Quickly is the usual adverb from quick:
- I quickly realized that I was on the wrong train.
- My heart started to beat more quickly.
- Quick is sometimes used as an adverb in very informal language, especially as an exclamation:
- Come on! Quick! They’ll see us!
- My heart started to beat much quicker.
- The quicker I get you away from here, the better.
- Fast is more often used when you are talking about the speed that somebody or something moves at:
- How fast can a cheetah run?
- Can’t you drive any faster?
- You’re driving too quickly.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- in a short time; without delay
- Children grow up so fast these days.
- The series is fast becoming one of the most popular TV shows in the country.
- The police said that they had reacted as fast as they could.
- Ben knew he had to move fast.
- The economy was expected to grow significantly faster than it did.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- (in compound adjectives) doing the thing mentioned quickly
- a fast-flowing stream
- fast-growing crops
- a fast-moving detective story
- completely
- Within a few minutes she was fast asleep (= sleeping deeply).
- The boat was stuck fast (= unable to move) in the mud.
quickly
fast-
completely
Word Originadverb Old English fæst ‘firmly fixed, steadfast’ and fæste ‘firmly’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vast and German fest ‘firm, solid’ and fast ‘almost’. In Middle English the adverb developed the senses ‘strongly, vigorously’ (compare with run hard), and ‘close, immediate’ (just surviving in the archaic fast by; compare with hard by), hence ‘closely, immediately’ and ‘quickly’; the idea of rapid movement was then reflected in adjectival use.
Idioms
See fast in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee fast in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishas fast as your legs can carry you
- as quickly as you can
be fading fast
- to be disappearing quickly
- Hopes of a peace settlement were fading fast.
hold fast to something
- (formal) to continue to believe in an idea, etc. despite difficulties
play fast and loose (with somebody/something)
- (old-fashioned) to treat somebody/something in a way that shows that you feel no responsibility or respect for them
stand fast/firm
- to refuse to move back; to refuse to change your opinionsTopics Opinion and argumentc2
thick and fast
- quickly and in large quantities
- Questions were coming at them thick and fast.
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fast