swiftly

English

Etymology

From Middle English swiftly, swyftely, swiftliche, from Old English swiftlīċe (“swiftly”), equivalent to swift +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈswɪftli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

swiftly (comparative swiftlier or more swiftly, superlative swiftliest or most swiftly)

1. In a swift manner; quickly; with quick motion or velocity; fleetly.
   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 21:

     Mrs. Piper cut short these piracies by swiftly removing his spoon.

   • 1999, Linda Flavell, Roger Flavell, “1066[:] The Normans Begin to Erect Castles”, in dictionary of english down through the ages[:] words & phrases born out of historical events great & small, 2005 edition, London: Kyle Cathie Limited, →ISBN, page 17:

     Strategic sites in even the remotest regions of the kingdom were swiftly fortified using forced labour.

   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     [T]he early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:quickly

Translations

quickly

• Bulgarian: бързо (bg) (bǎrzo)
• Catalan: ràpidament (ca)
• Esperanto: rapide (eo)
• Finnish: vikkelästi (fi), nopeasti (fi)
• Galician: lixeiro (gl)
• German: schnell (de), flink (de), behände (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: θοῶς (thoôs)

• Latin: celeriter (la), velociter
• Navajo: hah
• Plautdietsch: fluks
• Sanskrit: आशु (sa) (āśu)
• Spanish: rápidamente (es)