Synonyms of quick

quick 1 of 3

adjective

ˈkwik 

1

as in swift

having or showing the ability to respond without delay or hesitation

she's a quick wit, always ready with a pun or joke when the moment calls for one

Synonyms & Similar Words

• swift
• willing
• immediate
• ready
• rapid
• responsive
• prompt
• expeditious
• fast
• brisk
• alert
• clever
• keen
• instantaneous
• instant
• alacritous
• summary
• eager
• sharp
• smart
• speedy
• receptive
• lightning
• breathless
• snappy
• whirlwind
• rattling
• rapid-fire
• apt
• fleet
• breakneck
• fleet-footed
• quick-witted
• hit-and-run
• sharp-witted
• ready-witted

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• slow
• unresponsive
• lazy
• leisurely
• unhurried
• sluggish
• dragging
• crawling
• creeping
• tardy
• lagging
• dilatory
• slothful
• poky
• laggard
• idle
• slowish
• dallying
• inactive
• inert
• dawdling
• dormant
• poking
• lazyish
• dillydallying
• logy

2

as in fast

having or showing quickness of mind

a quick lad, he immediately caught on to how the machinery operated

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fast
• clever
• intelligent
• smart
• brilliant
• sharp
• keen
• exceptional
• bright
• wise
• nimble
• skilled
• alert
• educated
• quick-witted
• brainy
• cunning
• sensible
• sharp-witted
• learned
• supersmart
• resourceful
• apt
• ingenious
• insightful
• astute
• ultrasmart
• acute
• creative
• reasonable
• savvy
• prudent
• literate
• logical
• perceptive
• schooled
• informed
• knowledgeable
• scholarly
• knowing
• sagacious
• heady
• judicious
• cerebral
• trained
• hyperintelligent
• discerning
• erudite
• rational
• inventive
• sound
• perspicacious
• shrewd
• sane
• genial
• crafty
• wily
• highbrow
• sage
• well-read
• percipient
• sapient
• foxy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• simple
• slow
• dumb
• stupid
• dense
• thick
• soft
• dull
• mindless
• dim
• fatuous
• opaque
• senseless
• obtuse
• vacuous
• dopey
• unintelligent
• brainless
• brain-dead
• boneheaded
• witless
• doltish
• thickheaded
• dorky
• dunderheaded
• weak-minded
• silly
• foolish
• pinheaded
• softheaded
• simpleminded
• idiotic
• feebleminded
• moronic
• unbrilliant
• lamebrain
• dim-witted
• gormless
• unsmart
• imbecile
• ignorant
• slow-witted
• knuckleheaded
• empty-headed
• uninformed
• airheaded
• chuckleheaded
• uneducated
• unthinking
• lunkheaded
• bubbleheaded
• half-witted
• illiterate
• unwise
• thick-witted
• birdbrained
• mad
• absurd
• insane
• crazy
• untaught
• unintellectual
• lowbrow
• nutty
• zany
• wacky
• nonintellectual
• fool
• nonsensical
• unacademic
• preposterous
• sappy
• balmy
• asinine
• daft
• cuckoo
• kooky
• half-baked
• loony
• dippy
• boobish
• harebrained
• daffy
• dotty
• screwball
• cockeyed
• crackpot
• featherheaded
• tomfool

3

as in rapid

moving, proceeding, or acting with great speed

a quick run through the car wash, and your vehicle will look as good as new

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rapid
• fast
• brisk
• swift
• galloping
• speedy
• hasty
• hurried
• whirlwind
• rattling
• rapid-fire
• hot
• lightning
• breathless
• blistering
• snappy
• splitting
• zippy
• flying
• fleet
• accelerated
• dizzy
• rushed
• breakneck
• nippy
• prompt
• expeditious
• ready
• at speed
• fleet-footed
• strong
• vigorous
• rush
• breathtaking
• quickened
• strenuous
• high-speed
• energetic
• hastened
• ultrafast
• ultrarapid

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• slow
• unhurried
• sluggish
• deliberate
• dragging
• crawling
• leisurely
• languid
• lingering
• plodding
• poky
• laggard
• late
• measured
• slowish
• dallying
• tardy
• dilatory
• poking
• dawdling
• dillydallying
• ultraslow

4

as in breathing

having or showing life

after the battle, there was a hurried accounting of the quick and the dead

Synonyms & Similar Words

• breathing
• alive
• live
• animate
• active
• dynamic
• lively
• living
• vigorous
• animated
• vibrant
• vivacious
• current
• going
• vital
• surviving
• thriving
• existing
• prevailing
• extant
• existent
• resurrected

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cold
• breathless
• dead
• expired
• departed
• dying
• lifeless
• deceased
• asleep
• inanimate
• fading
• defunct
• moribund
• gone
• resting
• nonliving
• absent
• finished
• ghostly
• vanished
• nonexistent
• wiped out
• terminated
• stillborn
• lost
• fallen
• ghostlike
• lapsed
• extinct
• barren
• desert
• ghosty
• zombielike
• reposing
• perished

5

as in keen

able to sense slight impressions or differences

parlayed her quick eye for beauty into ownership of a top modeling agency

Synonyms & Similar Words

• keen
• sensitive
• sharp
• acute
• accurate
• good
• delicate
• perceptive
• precise
• fine
• subtle
• clear
• sensible
• piercing
• receptive
• discerning
• hypersensitive
• supersensitive
• hair-trigger
• hyperacute
• oversensitive

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• bad
• dull
• fading
• dulled
• insensitive
• dead
• numb
• insensible
• inaccurate
• deadened
• imprecise
• dimmed
• imperceptive

6

as in gone

archaic containing unborn young within the body

a woman quick with child

Synonyms & Similar Words

• gone
• pregnant
• caught
• expecting
• big
• with young
• expectant
• gravid
• heavy
• with child
• enceinte
• prenatal
• gestational
• parturient
• childbearing
• brooding
• conceiving
• impregnated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• barren
• nonpregnant
• infertile
• delivered
• aborting
• miscarrying

quick

2 of 3

adverb

as in quickly

with great speed

watch out, as the cars pass by here pretty quick

Synonyms & Similar Words

• quickly
• fast
• rapidly
• swiftly
• soon
• swift
• hot
• promptly
• immediately
• hastily
• in a hurry
• speedily
• in short order
• by leaps and bounds
• at full tilt
• briskly
• like a shot
• a mile a minute
• double-quick
• at full throttle
• like wildfire
• presto
• like gangbusters
• fleetly
• lickety-split
• apace
• chop-chop
• hell-for-leather
• abruptly
• pronto
• readily
• full tilt
• posthaste
• snappily
• impulsively
• recklessly
• rashly
• vigorously
• suddenly
• impetuously
• energetically

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• slowly
• slow
• sluggishly
• deliberately
• leisurely
• lingeringly
• belatedly
• ploddingly
• laggardly
• tardily
• delinquently

quick

3 of 3

noun

as in heart

the seat of one's deepest thoughts and emotions

that nasty comment cut me to the quick

Synonyms & Similar Words

• heart
• soul
• mind
• bone(s)
• gut
• breast
• core
• blood
• belly
• bosom
• inside
• inner space
• conscience
• heartstrings

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective quick contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of quick are apt, prompt, and ready. While all these words mean "able to respond without delay or hesitation or indicative of such ability," quick stresses instancy of response and is likely to connote native rather than acquired power.

quick reflexes

a keen quick mind

When is apt a more appropriate choice than quick?

The words apt and quick can be used in similar contexts, but apt stresses the possession of qualities (such as intelligence, a particular talent, or a strong bent) that makes quick effective response possible.

an apt student

her answer was apt and to the point

Where would prompt be a reasonable alternative to quick?

While the synonyms prompt and quick are close in meaning, prompt is more likely to connote training and discipline that fits one for instant response.

prompt emergency medical care

When is it sensible to use ready instead of quick?

The meanings of ready and quick largely overlap; however, ready suggests facility or fluency in response.

backed by a pair of ready assistants

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of quick

Adjective

Shoppers are quick to praise just how breathable the dress feels. — Lauren Barnhill, Southern Living, 23 July 2026

Turay’s glassy guitar licks have a Metheny-ish tint to them, while Bemis opts to ride quick, slinky rhythms rather than abusing his crash cymbal. — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 23 July 2026

Adverb

Sterling that migrates from bank deposits into stablecoin reserves stops funding mortgages and business lending, and a fast-growing coin could pull deposits out of the banking system quicker than banks could adjust. — Zennon Kapron, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026

Coincidentally, another birthday for someone in Anthony’s inner circle is coming up quick. — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 21 July 2026

Noun

As one of the marquee burners in the talent-rich fields of Los Angeles, Ross has Power 4 quicks — Notre Dame, Washington and Auburn were among the blue-blood offers — on a mid-major frame (5-foot-10, 180 pounds). — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 19 Aug. 2025

The 34-year-old won’t evade defenders with his quicks but repeatedly beats coverage off the first move and wins in traffic. — Ben Standig, The Athletic, 22 Jan. 2025