quick

[[t]kwɪ̱k[/t]]

♦

quicker, quickest

1) ADJ-GRADED Someone or something that is quick moves or does things with great speed.

You'll have to be quick. The flight leaves in about three hours...

I think I'm a reasonably quick learner...

Europe has moved a long way since then at a very quick pace.

Ant:

slow

Derived words:

quickly ADV-GRADED ADV with v

Cussane worked quickly and methodically...

Stop me if I'm speaking too quickly.

quickness N-UNCOUNT

...the natural quickness of his mind.

2) ADV-GRADED: ADV after v Quicker is sometimes used to mean `at a greater speed', and quickest to mean `at the greatest speed'. Quick is sometimes used to mean `with great speed'. Some people consider this to be non-standard. [INFORMAL]

Warm the sugar slightly first to make it dissolve quicker...

Prost went quickest.

3) ADJ-GRADED Something that is quick takes or lasts only a short time.

He took one last quick look about the room...

I just popped in for a quick drink...

Although this recipe looks long, it is actually very quick to prepare...

My father would have driven me to Cornwall, but we decided it would be quicker by train.

Derived words:

quickly ADV-GRADED ADV with v

You can become fitter quite quickly and easily.

4) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n Quick means happening without delay or with very little delay.

Officials played down any hope for a quick end to the bloodshed...

These investors feel the need to make quick profits.

Syn:

speedy

Derived words:

quickly ADV-GRADED ADV with v

We need to get it back as quickly as possible...

It quickly became the most popular men's fragrance in the world...

`Not me,' Robarts said quickly.

5) ADV-GRADED: ADV after v Quick is sometimes used to mean `with very little delay'. [INFORMAL]

I got away as quick as I could...

Quick! John! It's Carmela. I think she's taken an overdose...

The advantage in going faster is that you get there quicker.

6) ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ to-inf If you are quick to do something, you do not hesitate to do it.

Mark says the ideas are Katie's own, and is quick to praise her talent...

Furthermore, as Gervaise was quick to point out, Mr Scully was not a detective.

7) ADJ-GRADED: ADJ n If someone has a quick temper, they are easily made angry.

8) PHRASE: V inflects If someone bites their nails to the quick, they bite off all the white part at the end of each nail.

Her fingernails are bitten to the quick.

9) PHRASE: V inflects If something cuts you to the quick, it makes you feel very upset. [LITERARY]

I once heard her weeping in her bedroom, which cut me to the quick.

10) quick as a flash → see flash

quick off the mark → see mark

quick on the uptake → see uptake