rapid - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-Indo-European *h₁rp-i-der.

English rapid

Borrowed from Middle French rapide and its etymon Latin rapidus.[1]

rapid (comparative more rapid or (proscribed) rapider, superlative most rapid or (proscribed) rapidest)

  1. Very swift or quick.
    a rapid stream
    rapid growth
    rapid improvement
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      Ascend my Chariot; guide the rapid Wheeles.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
    • 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
      Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
  2. Steep, changing altitude quickly. (of a slope)
  3. Needing only a brief exposure time. (of a lens, plate, film, etc.)
  4. (England, dialectal) Violent, severe.
  5. (obsolete, dialectal) Happy.

Very swift or quick

rapid (comparative more rapid, superlative most rapid)

  1. (archaic, colloquial) Rapidly.

rapid (plural rapids)

  1. (usually in the plural) A rough section of a river or stream which is difficult to navigate due to the swift and turbulent motion of the water.
    Synonym: sault
    Coordinate term: riffle
  2. (dated) A burst of rapid fire.
  3. (chess) Ellipsis of rapid chess.
    • 2010, Garry Kasparov, How Life Imitates Chess, page 41:
      In these rapid games we had just twenty-five minutes each to make all our moves, a far cry from traditional chess, where games can last up to seven hours.
    • 2015, Mark Dvoretsky, For Friends and Colleagues, volume 2 (Reflections on My Profession):
      In order to avoid misunderstanding, I must note that I object to the attempts to displace normal chess with fast play, not rapid or blitz in general. I love them both, and, if I were to choose which to play, classic or rapid, I would choose rapid.
    • 2022 September 2, Nitish Pahwa, Magnus Carlsen (quoted), “The World’s Greatest Chess Player Cannot Wait to Battle His Young, Rising Rivals”, in Slate‎[1]:
      I haven’t played against Wesley So—I’ve played him a bunch online in rapid games, but not in classical rounds.
  1. ^ “rapid, adj., adv., and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Borrowed from French rapide, Latin rapidus. Doublet of repede.

rapid m or n (feminine singular rapidă, masculine plural rapizi, feminine/neuter plural rapide)

  1. fast, quick, rapid, swift, speedy, prompt, expeditious
    Synonyms: repede, iute, grăbit, prompt, sprinten, înainte

rapid

  1. quickly, rapidly, swiftly, speedily, promptly, expeditiously
    Synonyms: repede, iute, prompt, degrabă