lickety-split

American

[lik-i-tee-split] / ˈlɪk ɪ tiˈsplɪt /

adverb

Informal.

at great speed; rapidly.

to travel lickety-split.

lickety-split British

/ ˈlɪkɪtɪˈsplɪt /

adverb

informal very quickly; speedily

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lickety-split

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; lickety, a fanciful extension of lick “to move quickly” + split, “fraction,” as in split second

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A former child prodigy on the mandolin, Hull opened the evening flexing her Berklee-trained chops in a series of lickety-split bluegrass numbers that got early arrivers whistling with approval.

From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2025

Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace could have supplied us, lickety-split.

From Salon • Dec. 6, 2024

The world is changing at a lickety-split pace, but the return of GiveBIG on May 2-3 reminds us that the desire to do good is an unchanging feature of the human heart.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 20, 2023

Construction started barely three weeks ago, but the building is going up lickety-split.

From Washington Post • Jun. 27, 2020

I’d have this place whipped into shape lickety-split.

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023