hastily

[ heyst-l-ee ]

adverb

1. with haste; rapidly; speedily:

   Late one snowy night in Maryland, moving crews hastily loaded a line of vans and, under cover of darkness, departed the city.

2. without sufficient care or attention:

   This book feels far less potent, and far more hastily written, than the earlier work.

3. unnecessarily quickly or rashly; impetuously:

   Six months earlier, she had hastily married a former high school classmate.

Other Words From

• un·hast·i·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hastily¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; hasty ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

We were herded into hastily set-up clinics to get shots of gamma globulin, which was thought to boost our immune systems.

From Salon

Former Met Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the UK’s most senior officer of colour at the time, says the decision to begin a homicide investigation seems to have been made hastily in response to outside pressure.

From BBC

Critics say the changes have been brought in too hastily and that in some places there is a genuine fear that the vote is not really secret.

From BBC

The next 39 minutes provided the starkest picture yet of Trump’s waning mental acuity, set to a playlist hastily deployed by his team.

From Los Angeles Times

Those who didn’t find space with family or hastily prepared shelters now camp out in public squares, parks and even on sidewalks along Beirut’s famous beach promenade.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• carelessly
• hurriedly
• nimbly
• prematurely
• promptly
• quickly
• speedily
• suddenly
• swiftly

More About Hastily

What does hastily mean?

Hastily means rashly or too quickly and often carelessly.

The related adjective hasty most commonly means too fast and often careless.

The noun haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. Haste can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness. But haste also commonly means urgency or speed that is careless or reckless. This is how the word is used in the expression haste makes waste, which means that rushing things leads to mistakes. This is how hasty and hastily are most commonly used.

Doing things hastily is thought to lead to mistakes. Making a decision hastily is making it too quickly, often leading to negative consequences.

Hastily can also mean speedily, as in We packed up hastily and left as quickly as we could. 

Example: Don’t make big decisions hastily—you should always take some time to think about them.

Where does hastily come from?

The first records of the word hastily come from around 1300. The noun haste is related to the English hæst, “violence,” the Old Norse heifst, “hatred,” the Gothic haifsts, “quarrel,” and the Old High German heisti, “powerful.” The suffix -ly is used to form adverbs (the y in hasty is changed to an i in hastily, which is a spelling convention used in other adverbs whose base adjectives end in y, such as happily).

Hastily is most often used in a negative way. Most of the time, it implies that something was simply done too quickly, leading to mistakes. The opposite of doing something hastily is taking your time.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to hastily?

• hasty (adjective)
• haste (noun)

What are some synonyms for hastily?

• rashly
• hurriedly
• carelessly
• swiftly
• rapidly
• speedily
• quickly

What are some words that share a root or word element with hastily? 

• make haste
• haste makes waste
• posthaste
• hasten

What are some words that often get used in discussing hastily?

• done
• decision
• too
• hurry
• rush
• careless
• reckless
• mistake

How is hastily used in real life?

Hastily is most commonly used in a negative way to imply that something has been done too quickly and in a careless way.

We DO need to abolish #fossilfuel subsidies, but it can't be rushed. If done too hastily, policy reforms can backfire, as was the case in Ecuador recently. Our new blog post from @FunkeFranziska and @merriaura outlines what we can learn from this: https://t.co/xJFgAYK1qm

— IISD (@IISD_news) October 25, 2019

In beating the US and EU last week to authorising the #CovidVaccine, Britain kicked off a spirited debate about whether it had moved too hastily or the others were wasting valuable time as the death toll mounted | via @nytimeshttps://t.co/L2wqG1p1hg

— Firstpost (@firstpost) December 9, 2020

Delays with the formal audit of a nuclear reactor raises questions on whether the government is too hastily pushing its green energy platform. #PeninsulaBlog https://t.co/QlLNfp1s0B

— KEI (@KoreaEconInst) December 8, 2020

 

 

Try using hastily!

Which of the following words is NOT a synonym of hastily?

A. rashly
B. carelessly
C. hurriedly
D. calmly