make haste

Idioms and Phrases

Also, make it snappy . Hurry up, move or act quickly, as in If you don't make haste we'll be late , or Make it snappy, kids . The first expression was first recorded in Miles Coverdale's 1535 translation of the Bible (Psalms 39:13): “Make haste, O Lord, to help me.” The variant dates from the early 1900s and uses snappy in the sense of “resembling a sudden jerk.” The oxymoron make haste slowly , dating from the mid-1700s, is a translation of the Latin festina lente . It is used either ironically, to slow someone down (as in You'll do better if you make haste slowly ), or to comment sarcastically on a lack of progress (as in So far the committee has been making haste slowly ).

Related Words

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More About Make Haste

What does make haste mean?

Make haste means to move quickly, hurry up, or rush.

In make haste, the word haste means speed or swiftness. It can also mean speed or urgency that is careless, and this is how the word is used in the expression haste makes waste, which means that rushing things leads to mistakes.

However, make haste doesn’t usually imply this—it usually just implies speed or urgency.

Make haste can sound old-fashioned, like the kind of thing you might hear a medieval knight say in a movie. Today, it’s much more common to say things like hurry up or move quickly.

The verb hasten typically means to speed something up, as in We need to hasten our efforts.

Example: We have to make haste if we don’t want to be late.

Where does make haste come from?

The first record of the phrase make haste come around the 1500s. One of the first records comes from a 1535 translation of the Bible, in a verse from Psalms 39: “Make haste, O Lord, to help me.”

The contradictory phrase make haste slowly has been used since around the mid-1700s. It is often used in an ironic way, to advise someone to slow down, or to criticize a lack of progress. It should not be confused with the phrase hurry up and wait, which means to move quickly and then have to wait for someone or something.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to make haste?

• makes haste (present tense verb)
• made haste (past tense verb)
• making haste (continuous tense verb)

What are some synonyms for make haste?

• hurry
• hurry up
• move quickly
• move fast

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

• make
• haste
• haste makes waste
• hasty
• hastily
• hasten
• posthaste

What are some words that often get used in discussing make haste?

• fast
• speed
• quickly
• move
• rush
• slowly

How is make haste used in real life?

Make haste is usually used in the context of someone hurrying to do something. It can sound old-fashioned.

If you want to succeed at doing good, always make haste to show your good side to people before they show you their worst side. People change.

— Son of David (@DrOlusesan) November 30, 2020

I’ve been yelling this on Twitter for like a year now. It’s so obvious how much they should’ve made haste to move on from him https://t.co/mhV56HGaIu

— Trav Talks Sports Once Again (@VegasDogGuy1) December 13, 2020

“Will those panels not be duty-bound to agree with the FG, where all governors defer to the President like in a monarchy? If it has nothing to hide, the Federal Government should make haste slowly and allow the various states to do their work." https://t.co/0XqpfWoS4N

— Vanguard Newspapers (@vanguardngrnews) November 10, 2020

 

Try using make haste!

Which of the following terms is a synonym of make haste?

A. hurry up
B. move fast
C. move quickly
D. all of the above