Meaning & use
rapid
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Happening, moving or changing very quickly.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: rapid growth; the change was rapid.
Patterns
- rapid growth
- a rapid response
The town saw rapid growth after the factory opened.
She made rapid progress in her piano lessons.
A rapid change in weather caught the hikers off guard.
adjectivebefore a noun
Done or achieved in a very short time, as with a quick reaction or quick work.
Grammar: Used with nouns of action: rapid response.
Patterns
- a rapid reaction
Emergency crews gave a rapid response.
The doctor took a rapid look at the report.
The team's rapid reaction prevented a disaster.
nounusually plural
A fast, rough stretch of a river where water runs over rocks, usually in the plural.
Grammar: Almost always plural: the rapids.
Patterns
- shoot the rapids
- white-water rapids
We paddled carefully through the rapids.
The raft tipped over in the rapids.
The sound of the rapids could be heard from the camp.
Word forms
| comparative | more rapid |
|---|---|
| superlative | most rapid |
| plural | rapids |
Common combinations
- rapid growth
- The company enjoyed rapid growth last year.
- rapid response
- Rapid response teams arrived within minutes.
- rapid decline
- The rapid decline of the bee population worried scientists.
- rapid pulse
- The nurse noted a rapid pulse.
- rapid progress
- The student made rapid progress.
- rapid succession
- Three goals were scored in rapid succession.
Synonyms and how they differ
- swift
- Swift is slightly more literary and graceful, while rapid suits processes and measurable change.
- quick
- Quick is the everyday word and covers short actions, whereas rapid sounds more formal.
- fast
- Fast usually describes physical speed of a thing, while rapid often describes a rate of change.
- speedy
- Speedy suggests something done promptly and is more informal than rapid.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: rapid or rabid? rapid or fast?
rapid vs rabid
Rabid means infected with rabies or extremely fanatical, and it is not about speed.
rapid vs fast
Fast can describe the speed of a person or vehicle, while rapid describes quick change or processes.
Practice
The city has experienced ___ growth, doubling its population in ten years.
Choose one answer.
Rapid means very fast, which suits doubling in ten years. Rabid means infected with rabies and does not fit growth.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rapid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.