Rapid Meaning
/ˈɹæpɪd/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjVery swift or quick.
adjSteep, changing altitude quickly. (of a slope)
Sentence Examples
Technological innovation brought about the rapid progress of the information industry.
Business recovery, which looks to be just around the corner, will be rapid and strong.
We live in an age of rapid technological advance.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ and powerful flow of the river made swimming very dangerous.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ expansion of the city put enormous pressure on its infrastructure and public services.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p- Proto-Indo-European *h₁rp-i-der. Proto-Italic *rapjō Latin rapiō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin rapidusder. Middle French rapidebor. ▲ Latin rapidusbor. English rapid Borrowed from Middle French rapide and its etymon Latin rapidus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Ascend my Chariot; guide the rapid Wheeles."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.[…]Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?"
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion.""
— 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
"In these rapid games we had just twenty-five minutes each to make all our moves, a far cry from traditional chess, where games can last up to seven hours."
— 2010, Garry Kasparov, How Life Imitates Chess, page 41:
"In order to avoid misunderstanding, I must note that I object to the attempts to displace normal chess with fast play, not rapid or blitz in general. I love them both, and, if I were to choose which to play, classic or rapid, I would choose rapid."
— 2015, Mark Dvoretsky, For Friends and Colleagues, volume 2 (Reflections on My Profession):
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ and powerful flow of the river made swimming very dangerous.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ expansion of the city put enormous pressure on its infrastructure and public services.