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hastily

UK/ˈheɪstɪli/US/ˈheɪstɪli/
adverbB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,295 of 15,258leans written

Hastily means in too much of a hurry, without proper care. Hastily written, hastily arranged, retreat hastily.

The criticism is built in: doing something hastily says the speed cost something, which is why hastily and quickly are not interchangeable. It usually attaches to arrangements and to writing. Note haste, and the proverb that more haste means less speed.

Definitions of hastily

  1. 1adverbhastilyIn too much of a hurry, without proper care.B2+

    “The report was written hastily and was full of careless mistakes.”

hastily is a manner of hurrying.

Also accepted in games: hurriedly

Where it comes from

  1. Frankish

    *haifst — violence

  2. Old French

    hastif

  3. Middle English

    hasty

  4. English

    hasty

  5. English, today

    hastily

From hasty + -ly. hasty comes from Middle English hasty, of unknown origin. Likely a new formation in Middle English equivalent to haste + -y, found as in other Germanic languages (Old Frisian hâstich, Middle Dutch haestich (> Dutch haastig (“hasty”)), Middle Low German hastich (“hasty”), German hastig, Danish hastig, Swedish hastig (“hasty”)); otherwise possibly representing an assimilation to the foregoing of Middle English hastive, hastif (> English hastive), from Old French hastif (Modern French hâtif), from Frankish haifst (“violence”), ultimately of the same gem - origin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

hastily in the wild

  • The destroyed homes were hastily rebuilt by the city, but were later condemned after years of attempted repairs to the shoddy construction.

    Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia

  • The first post-war national tournament was a hastily organized week-long competition in cup format from September 3 until September 9, 1945.

    1945 Yugoslav Football Tournament

  • The wall was partially destroyed during the first war, and was hastily rebuilt just before the second war.

    Dacian fortress of Căpâlna

  • As part of the settlement between World Series Cricket and the Australian Cricket Board, this series was hastily arranged along with another involving Australia and the West Indies.

    English cricket team in Australia in 1979–80

  • Then hastily refilling her basket, she shook her hair about her face and went to bid Faith good by.

    Moods· Louisa May Alcott

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the hastif family

hastyhastily

hastily — used about once every 4,394 pages · #9,295 · point at the bar for the others

  • haste
  • hassle
  • hasten