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apace

apace

5 8.2
At a fast pace
  • adverb
  • /əˈpeɪs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : rápidamente
  • The weeks passed, and Molly grew apace too.
  • proceed apace
  • continue apace
  • grow apace

The Library's Maximum Access project is continuing apace.

Examples

  • The project is moving forward apace as the deadline approaches.

  • The garden decayed apace while he waited for an answer and tended to his family.

    Academic text (2009)
  • We're going to do everything we can to stay apace with that and take advantage of it.

    Blog text (33)
  • Business, for them, moves apace, so that they make enough money to live with nothing left over.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Well, our investigation has proceeded apace, as they say.

  • To keep apace with social and technological changes, we must obviously abandon many of our traditions.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Incomes in the countryside have not grown apace with urban areas, and therefore prices are relatively high.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Around the Mediterranean, political and scientific cooperation and institution building continue apace, but environmental improvements remain elusive.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Discussions about the virtues of competing constitutional theories continue apace, and that is a good thing.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Meanwhile, Israel's settlement expansion and road building will continue apace, further complicating diplomacy.

    Academic text (2006)

Synonyms

fast
vsapace
1.0

Moving or happening quickly

refers to high pace rather than brief duration
quickly
vsapace
1.0

At a fast speed or without delay

is about steady high pace rather than instant action
rapidly
vsapace
446 1.4

In a very short time

is at a high pace but not always at that extreme rate
swiftly
vsapace
84 1.0

Quickly and smoothly

is about high pace but does not imply smooth movement
in short order
vsapace
13 3.5

Very quickly without delay

is about movement pace rather than immediate completion
speedily
vsapace
6 2.4

To act quickly without delay

is focused on pace rather than prompt timing
post-haste
vsapace
  • Formal
3 7.4

As quickly as possible

is about moving at a high pace but without that urgent pressure

Antonyms

1.0

At a low speed without hurrying

How Fast

rapidly
446 1.4
apace
  • Archaic
5 8.2
briskly
24 3.5
slowly
1.0

Surface Forms

apace positive

Morphology

apace = pace (semi-transparent) = a + pace

The word is historically built on 'pace' with an old adverbial 'a-' prefix, but the modern adverb is lexicalized and only partly predictable for learners.

Etymology

Apace comes from an old French phrase à pas meaning 'at a step', and it is like the English word pace ('speed'). So imagine someone moving step after step very fast, and you see why apace means 'quickly'.