fast
- adjective
- /fæst/
- The door is securely fast and won't budge even in strong winds.
- hold fast
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Watch on YouTubeYou want to make sure it's fast and nice and tight.
- You want to make sure it's fast and nice and tight.
Examples
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The state successfully reinvigorated agriculture, which sustained a fast-recovering population and fostered commercialized agriculture and trade in foodstuffs.
Academic text (2015) -
Make sure the screws are fast so that the table remains steady.
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You want to make sure it's fast and nice and tight.
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Have you a fast horse?
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His childhood dream of being an artist was fast becoming a reality.
Academic text (2011) -
Cold-blooded animals do not absorb medicine very fast at all.
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The Thames policeman in the bow held fast to one of the bridge pilings.
Fiction book (1990) -
I spent almost every day outdoors, biking beside fast rivers and green fields spotted with black-and-white cows.
Academic text (2008) -
She tied the rope fast to the post to ensure it wouldn't come loose.
Synonyms
Attached firmly to something so it cannot move
Secure and unlikely to move, change, or weaken
Stuck firmly in one place or unable to stop paying attention
Not able to move or be moved, like a statue
Very loyal and not likely to change
Unable to move or be moved easily
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
Act in a careless way by ignoring rules and other people's feelings
Compounds
Cheap food that is already cooked and sold to eat quickly, like hamburgers or fried chicken
- Jargon
A quick attack where a team moves fast down the court to score before the defense sets up
- Specialized
A nuclear reactor that uses fast neutrons without a moderator to make energy
- Specialized
A way of running a simulation where time moves faster than real life
A Jewish fast kept by firstborn sons the day before Passover to remember how they were saved in Egypt
A one-day event when many Jews do not eat or drink before Purim to remember Esther
A major Jewish fast on the ninth day of Av that remembers the destruction of the temples in Jerusalem
A Jewish day when people do not eat or drink from dawn to dusk to remember Jerusalem's walls being broken
- Specialized
A set of computer rules that lets local devices send secure messages and manage a network
A major Jewish day when people do not eat to remember when the temples were destroyed in Jerusalem
A day in the Jewish calendar when Jews do not eat or drink to remember Gedaliah's killing
A minor Jewish fast on the tenth of Tevet to remember the siege of Jerusalem and Holocaust victims
How Secure
Surface Forms
Etymology
Fast comes from an old idea of being 'firm' or 'fixed', and it is the same root as fasten. So if something is fast it is held 'firmly' in place.