hastily

[heyst-l-ee]

adverb

1. with haste; rapidly; speedily.

   Late one snowy night in Maryland, moving crews hastily loaded a line of vans and, under cover of darkness, departed the city.

2. without sufficient care or attention.

   This book feels far less potent, and far more hastily written, than the earlier work.

3. unnecessarily quickly or rashly; impetuously.

   Six months earlier, she had hastily married a former high school classmate.

Other Word Forms

• unhastily adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hastily¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; hasty ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

At a hastily arranged hearing on Sunday afternoon, Judge Sooknanan, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, expanded the order to cover all unaccompanied children said to be at risk of deportation.

From BBC

It was an aggregate scoreline of 9-1 for the tie as fans branded Martin a "coward" with some hastily fashioned banners.

From BBC

He rushes out, awkwardly alerts his hostess of the situation, assures her he’s not the culprit and hastily departs in disgust.

From Salon

Anna and Harper’s central mother-daughter plot line is so hastily sketched that it barely registers.

From Los Angeles Times

A queue soon formed for a book of condolence - watched over by a black-and-white photo of Ozzy clutching a cross, which the museum hastily put up on Wednesday morning.

From BBC

Related Words

• carelessly www.thesaurus.com
• hurriedly www.thesaurus.com
• nimbly 
• prematurely www.thesaurus.com
• promptly 
• quickly 
• speedily www.thesaurus.com
• suddenly 
• swiftly 

When To Use

What does hastily mean?

Hastily means rashly or too quickly and often carelessly.The related adjective hasty most commonly means too fast and often careless.The noun haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. Haste can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness. But haste also commonly means urgency or speed that is careless or reckless. This is how the word is used in the expression haste makes waste, which means that rushing things leads to mistakes. This is how hasty and hastily are most commonly used.Doing things hastily is thought to lead to mistakes. Making a decision hastily is making it too quickly, often leading to negative consequences.Hastily can also mean speedily, as in We packed up hastily and left as quickly as we could. Example: Don’t make big decisions hastily—you should always take some time to think about them.