Meaning & use
fast
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Moving, happening, or able to happen at high speed; taking little time.
Grammar: Compares with faster/fastest: a fast train, a faster train, the fastest route.
Patterns
- a fast car
- a fast decision
- fast growth
- fast asleep
The train is faster than the bus at rush hour.
She made a fast decision and saved the project.
The fastest route is not always the safest.
adjectivecomparable
Showing a time ahead of the correct time, especially a clock or watch.
Grammar: Predicative after be or run: My watch is fast. Do not say the watch is quickly.
Patterns
- the clock is fast
- run fast
- five minutes fast
My watch is three minutes fast.
The office clock runs fast and always confuses us.
adjectivenot comparableliteraryold-fashioned
Firm, loyal, or securely fixed; not likely to move or change.
Grammar: Mostly fixed or literary phrases such as fast friends and hold fast; do not use comparative forms here.
Patterns
- fast friends
- hold fast
- stand fast
They remained fast friends through many moves.
Hold fast to the rope until help comes.
adverbafter a verb
Quickly; at high speed, with the same spelling as the adjective.
Grammar: Follows the verb: run fast, think fast. It does not take -ly: say drive fast, not fastly.
Patterns
- run fast
- drive fast
- grow fast
- fast asleep
Please do not drive so fast near the school.
The weeds grew fast after the rain.
The baby was fast asleep by eight.
verbintransitive
To eat no food, or very little food, for a period of time, often for religious or health reasons.
Grammar: No object; often followed by for or during: fast for a day, fast during Ramadan.
Patterns
- fast for 24 hours
- fast during Ramadan
- fast from dawn to sunset
- break a fast
Many people fast from dawn to sunset.
He fasted for a day before the medical test.
They broke their fast with soup and dates.
Word forms
| third person singular | fasts |
|---|---|
| past tense | fasted |
| past participle | fasted |
| -ing form | fasting |
| comparative | faster |
| superlative | fastest |
Common combinations
- fast food
- They grabbed fast food between meetings.
- fast car
- A fast car is not always a safe choice for a new driver.
- run fast
- Train consistently if you want to run faster.
- hold fast to something
- Hold fast to your values during the negotiation.
- fast asleep
- The children were fast asleep when we returned.
Synonyms and how they differ
- quick
- Often short in time or mentally sharp; quick response fits, while fast better stresses speed of motion or process.
- rapid
- More formal and often describes change, growth, or movement over time: rapid growth, rapid decline.
- swift
- Suggests smooth, prompt movement; slightly literary and often graceful: a swift reply, swift currents.
- speedy
- Friendly or slightly old-fashioned; emphasizes arriving or finishing soon: a speedy recovery.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: fast or quick? fast or quickly?
fast vs quick
Fast stresses speed; quick often means taking little time or being alert: a quick glance, quick thinking.
fast vs quickly
Quickly is the usual adverb; fast can also be an adverb after verbs, but not before adjectives: say very fast, not fastly.
Practice
Choose the best word: My watch is five minutes ___, so I keep arriving early.
Choose one answer.
A timepiece that runs ahead is fast. A person may be early, but a watch is early only by metaphor; late and slow do not match running ahead.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fast”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.