quick
quick Lexical Profile
quick Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Moving fast or doing something in a short time; rapid or swift.
"Her quick reflexes prevented the glass vase from hitting the floor."
Lasting or taking a very short amount of time; brief.
"We took a quick break to grab coffee before the afternoon seminar began."
Mentally alert, perceptive, and able to understand, learn, or think with speed.
"The professor praised the quick student for grasping the complex theorem immediately."
Prompt or easily aroused to respond, react, or feel an emotion.
"He is quick to forgive others whenever a misunderstanding occurs."
• adverb
At a fast rate; rapidly or promptly (used chiefly in informal contexts or imperative phrases).
"Come quick and look at the rainbow before it fades away."
• noun
The tender, sensitive flesh underneath a fingernail, toenail, or claw.
"Biting your fingernails down to the quick can cause painful inflammation."
The central, most vital, or most sensitive part of a person's feelings or nature.
"Her harsh criticism cut him to the quick, leaving him speechless for hours."
Living persons (used with 'the', chiefly in the phrase 'the quick and the dead').
"Ancient Creeds often speak of a final judgment encompassing both the quick and the dead."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'quickly' is the standard adverb form in formal writing, 'quick' is frequently used as a flat adverb in informal speech and imperative clauses (e.g., 'Come quick!'). The archaic sense meaning 'living' survives primarily in fixed expressions like 'the quick and the dead' and 'cut to the quick'.
• Rhymes for quick
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'cwic' or 'cwicu', meaning 'living, alive, or animate', derived from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *gwei- ('to live'). The sense shifted from 'full of life and vigor' to 'rapid or swift' during the Middle English period.