swift suggests great rapidity coupled with ease of movement.
returned the ball with one swift stroke
fleet adds the implication of lightness and nimbleness.
fleet runners
quick suggests promptness and the taking of little time.
a quick wit
speedy implies quickness of successful accomplishment
speedy delivery of mail
and may also suggest unusual velocity.
hasty suggests hurry and precipitousness and often connotes carelessness.
a hasty inspection
expeditious suggests efficiency together with rapidity of accomplishment.
the expeditious handling of an order
Examples of speedy in a Sentence
They wished her a speedy recovery.
a speedy worker but not a very careful one, unfortunately
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Watertown, though, kept scrapping enough together inside the circle to prevent a game-tying goal, while speedy senior captain Sophia Setouhi and Master led a couple promising charges into offensive territory.—Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 10 Sep. 2025 De Meo has been tasked with engineering a speedy turnaround for Kering, which has been dragged down by steep declines at its star brand Gucci and a bulging debt load.—Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 9 Sep. 2025 Its high-response linear actuator (HLA) focus motor snaps between near and far-off subjects in an instant, even with the a7R IV's autofocus system, which isn't as speedy as more recent Sony and L-mount cameras.—PC Magazine, 9 Sep. 2025 But all efforts to apprehend the speedy vehicle’s unidentifiable driver were fruitless.—Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for speedy
Word History
Etymology
Middle English spedi "beneficial, unencumbered, agile, prompt," from sped "luck, success, assistance, rate of progress" + -i-y entry 1 — more at speed entry 1
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