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🤰 First fetal movement ⚡ Becoming faster 🌱 Beginning of life
quickening

quickening

1 6.7
A rise in speed or intensity
  • noun
  • /ˈkwɪkənɪŋ/
translation icon : aceleración
  • "And what day did he say it would be?" Joshua asked, feeling a sudden quickening of excitement.

Examples

  • Yes, I think I am—he should not be particularly nervous, yet there it was, a quickening that would scare the wits out of a heart patient.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • He noticed a quickening in the pace of the crowd as the concert was about to begin.

  • There was a brief quickening in the huge dark eyes; otherwise, the face was still.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • " No, I am, " Martha said, feeling a quickening in her chest.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Christopher followed the other man, his pulse quickening, content for the moment to lay all questions aside.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • It had been a long time since she'd felt this quickening in the blood.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • She looked at him and felt a quickening that was both frightening and exhilarating.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Effie could feel the quickening of her heart, a prolonged sensation of sudden fright, like when she was startled by an unexpected noise.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Airports and flying always aroused her because they made people anonymous for a while, and the air in planes and terminals carried a quickening: a recklessness.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • You could sense the quickening of the race as the finish line approached.

Synonyms

acceleration
vsquickening
  • Specialized
27 3.7

A faster speed at which something happens or grows

is the neutral term for the same process of becoming faster
speedup
vsquickening
1 3.6

An increase in speed that makes something happen faster

is the neutral term emphasizing the ongoing process of getting faster

Antonyms

to slow down
687 1.4

To move or act more slowly

to decelerate
10 5.5

To slow down

How Fast

acceleration
  • Specialized
27 3.7
quickening
1 6.7
speed
∞ 1.0
pace
409 2.0
slowness
5 1.1

Surface Forms

quickening singular
quickening plural

Morphology

quickening = quicken (transparent) = quick + en + ing

Here 'quicken' = 'make faster' is the productive modern sense of 'quick' + '-en', and adding '-ing' yields the process, which learners can derive compositionally.

Etymology

Quickening comes from quick which can mean 'fast' and from quicken meaning 'to make faster'. So a quickening can be the moment when movement or speed increases, like when a crowd's excitement suddenly grows.