Link Centre Dictionary

haste

UK/heɪst/ US/ˈheɪst/ fairly common

noun

1.

overly eager speed (and possible carelessness)

  • “he soon regretted his haste”
2.

the act of moving hurriedly and in a careless manner

  • “in his haste to leave he forgot his book”
3.

a condition of urgency making it necessary to hurry

  • “in a hurry to lock the door”
Synonyms

Origin

Blend of Middle English hasten (verb), (compare Dutch haasten, German hasten, Danish haste, Swedish hasta (“to hasten, rush”)) and Middle English hast (“haste”, noun), from Old French haste (whence French hâte), from Old Frankish *hai(f)st (“violence”), from Proto-Germanic *haifstiz (“struggle, conflict”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeyp- (“to ridicule, mock, anger”). Akin to Old Frisian hāst, hāste (“haste”), Old English hǣst (“violence”), Old English hǣste (“violent, impetuous, vehement”, adjective), Old Norse heift /heipt (“feud”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃𐍄𐍃 (haifsts, “rivalry”). Cognate with German heftig (“vehement”) and Danish heftig (“vehement”).

Phrases

  • great haste makes great waste
  • haste makes waste
  • in haste
  • make haste
  • make haste slowly
  • more haste, less speed
  • post haste

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.