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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The idea of bringing speedy, low-power optical interconnects all the way to the processor has fired the imagination of engineers for years.—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Dec. 2025 Its abnormally high velocity of 36 miles per second (58 kilometers per second) told us that the speedy object, which became known as 3I/ATLAS, had probably been wandering interstellar space and receiving gravitational nudges from nearby stars since before our solar system even existed.—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 28 Dec. 2025 Mitchell, 27, has plenty of experience to serve as a speedy depth option behind Rhamondre Stevenson to pair with D’Ernest Johnson as a backup.—Doug Kyed, Boston Herald, 25 Dec. 2025 That speedy appeal process was granted last month.—Adam Reiss, NBC news, 24 Dec. 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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