Library / English Dictionary

HASTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Act or move at high speed

Example:

hurry--it's late!

Synonyms:

festinate; hasten; hurry; look sharp; rush

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "hasten" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to occur rapidly

Example:

the infection precipitated a high fever and allergic reactions

Synonyms:

hasten; induce; rush; stimulate

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "hasten" is one way to...):

effect; effectuate; set up (produce)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move hurridly

Example:

The cars raced down the street

Synonyms:

belt along; bucket along; cannonball along; hasten; hie; hotfoot; pelt along; race; rush; rush along; speed; step on it

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "hasten" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hasten"):

barge; push forward; thrust ahead (push one's way)

buck; charge; shoot; shoot down; tear (move quickly and violently)

dart; dash; flash; scoot; scud; shoot (run or move very quickly or hastily)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Speed up the progress of; facilitate

Example:

This should expedite the process

Synonyms:

expedite; hasten

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "hasten" is one way to...):

aid; assist; help (give help or assistance; be of service)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

She carried him down, and then with loud screams she hastened to the boy’s father, Your boy, cried she, has been the cause of a great misfortune!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

And, gathering her work together, she was hastening away, when Elizabeth called out: Dear madam, do not go. I beg you will not go.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“Oh, not that I’m afraid of you, not that I’m afraid of you,” he hastened to add.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Holmes tied the dog to the hedge, and we hastened onward.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He waved back to them, and then hastened on, the lighter of heart for having fallen in with these strange men of pleasure.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Holmes was already dressed, and we hastened down to meet him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But, alas for our chance of hastening onwards!

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Though her nephew had had no particular reason to hasten back on her account, she had not lived above six-and-thirty hours after his return.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But unwelcome as such a task must be, it was necessary to be done, and Elinor therefore hastened to perform it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I have seen him wringing his hands after such a rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his early and unhappy death.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)