as in rapid
moving, proceeding, or acting with great speed
the witness stayed unruffled all through the prosecutor's rapid-fire questioning
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Recent Examples of rapid-fire
The rapid-fire trade deadline version of this, however, is that, in a salary-dump trade, teams will waive the physical and reporting requirements and certify the trade is completed immediately after the trade call with the league.
—
John Hollinger, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2026
Astrocytes do not engage in the rapid-fire signaling typical of neurons at synapses.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Quanta Magazine, 30 Jan. 2026
The rapid-fire announcement of Grammy performers continues as Tyler, the Creator and Rose, both of whom were honored at Variety’s 2025 Hitmakers event in December, will perform at the show on Sunday (not together).
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 29 Jan. 2026
This matters especially for risky creative choices — Stone shaving her head for Bugonia, Jordan playing twins in Sinners, Hawke embodying the rapid-fire wit of Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon.
—Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rapid-fire
John Hollinger, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2026
Astrocytes do not engage in the rapid-fire signaling typical of neurons at synapses.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Quanta Magazine, 30 Jan. 2026
The rapid-fire announcement of Grammy performers continues as Tyler, the Creator and Rose, both of whom were honored at Variety’s 2025 Hitmakers event in December, will perform at the show on Sunday (not together).
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 29 Jan. 2026
This matters especially for risky creative choices — Stone shaving her head for Bugonia, Jordan playing twins in Sinners, Hawke embodying the rapid-fire wit of Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon.
—Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rapid-fire
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rapid-fire
Adjective
-
Earthquakes' sudden, rapid shaking can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches.—
CA Earthquake Bot,
Sacbee.com,
17 Feb. 2026
-
This transition requires sophisticated sensors and rapid data processing.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Morning habits like brisk walking, jogging, strength training, or short high-intensity workouts have all been linked to lower blood pressure.—
Alexandria Nyembwe,
Health,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Many aspects of Elvis’ story are touched on glancingly or not at all in the film’s brisk 90-minute runtime.—
Kim Willis,
USA Today,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
First, in-house manufacturing meant that its product development process took around 18 months, while competitors using third-party manufacturers could move at a much quicker pace.—
Kathryn Hopkins,
Footwear News,
17 Feb. 2026
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In fact, one of the couples who were engaged had their pod love story mostly shown as a quick montage of conversations before they got engaged.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Medved wants to play with a faster tempo, but given his lack of personnel, his team is one of the slowest in the Big Ten.—
Andy Greder,
Twin Cities,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Ukraine has in the past five days made its fastest territorial gains since 2023, according to AFP; analysts said disruption to Starlink access was causing command-and-control problems for Russian forces, while Moscow has seen casualties surge in recent weeks.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
As his health faded in the last year of his life, Neruda rushed to finish his story, which gives the last chapters of his book a galloping, fragmented quality.—
Tunku Varadarajan,
WSJ,
25 June 2021
-
Designed by renowned architect Dominique Perrault, its four stories tilting forward are said to evoke a galloping horse.—
Rob Hodgetts at Longchamp,
CNN,
15 Oct. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Rapid-fire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapid-fire. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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