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Webster 1913 Edition

Rapid

Rap′id

(răp′ĭd)
,
Adj.
[L.
rapidus
, fr.
rapere
to seize and carry off, to snatch or hurry away; perhaps akin to Gr.
ἀρπάζειν
: cf. F.
rapide
. Cf.
Harpy
,
Ravish
.]
1.
Very swift or quick; moving with celerity; fast;
as, a
rapid
stream; a
rapid
flight; a
rapid
motion.
Ascend my chariot; guide the
rapid
wheels.
Milton.
2.
Advancing with haste or speed; speedy in progression; in quick sequence;
as,
rapid
growth;
rapid
improvement;
rapid
recurrence;
rapid
succession.
3.
Quick in execution;
as, a
rapid
penman
.
Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast,
The
rapids
are near, and the daylight’s past.
Moore.

Webster 1828 Edition

Rapid

RAP'ID

,
Adj.
[L. rapidus, from rapio, the primary sense of which is to rush.]
1.
Very swift or quick; moving with celerity; as a rapid stream; a rapid flight; a rapid motion.
Part shun the goal with rapid wheels.
2.
Advancing with haste or speed; speedy in progression; as rapid growth; rapid improvement.
3.
Of quick utterance of words; as a rapid speaker.

Definition 2024

rapid

rapid

See also: ràpid

English

Adjective

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

  1. Very swift or quick.
    a rapid stream;  rapid growth;  rapid improvement‎
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      Ascend my chariot; guide the rapid wheels.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      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.

Translations

Adverb

rapid ‎(comparative more rapid, superlative most rapid)

  1. (archaic or colloquial) Rapidly.

Noun

rapid ‎(plural rapids)

  1. (often 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.
  2. (dated) A burst of rapid fire.

Translations

Related terms

Derived terms

Anagrams

Romanian

Etymology

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

Adjective

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

  1. fast, quick, rapid, swift, speedy, prompt, expeditious

Declension

Synonyms

Adverb

rapid

  1. quickly, rapidly, swiftly, speedily, promptly, expeditiously

Synonyms

Etymology

Borrowing from French rapide, from Latin rapidus.

Pronunciation

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