fast (1) — OET

fast1

adjective

1 a fast sports car | the game is played at a fast pace:

speedy, quick, swift, rapid;

brisk, nimble, sprightly, lively;

fast-moving, high-speed, turbo, sporty, accelerated, express, flying;

whirlwind, blistering, breakneck, pell-mell, meteoric, smart;

hasty, hurried;

unhesitating, expeditious;

fleet-footed;

informal nippy, zippy, spanking, scorching, blinding, supersonic;

British, informal cracking;

literary fleet;

rare tantivy, alacritous, volant.

▷antonyms slow.

2 his hand slammed against the door, holding it fast:

secure, secured, fastened, tight, firmly fixed;

stuck, jammed, immovable, unbudgeable, stiff;

closed, shut, to.

▷antonyms loose.

3 the dyes are boiled with yarn to produce a fast colour:

indelible, lasting, permanent, stable.

▷antonyms temporary.

4 they remained fast friends:

loyal, devoted, faithful, firm, steadfast, staunch, true, boon, bosom, inseparable;

constant, lasting, unchanging, unwavering, enduring, unswerving;

informal as thick as thieves.

5 the fast life she led in London:

wild, dissipated, dissolute, debauched, intemperate, immoderate, louche, rakish, decadent, unrestrained, reckless, profligate, self-indulgent, shameless, sinful, immoral, extravagant;

informal swinging.

▷antonyms sedate.

□ fast and furious

the fun was fast and furious:

frantic, wild, frenetic, hectic, fraught, feverish, fevered, mad, crazed, manic, hyperactive, energetic, intense, turbulent, tumultuous.

□ make fast

the craft is made fast to the shore:

attach, fasten, secure, fix, affix, join, connect, couple, link, tie, tie up, bind, fetter, strap, rope, tether, truss, lash, hitch, moor, anchor, yoke, chain.

adverb

1 she drove fast towards the gates:

quickly, rapidly, swiftly, speedily, briskly, at speed, at full speed, at full tilt;

energetically;

hastily, with all haste, in haste, hurriedly, in a hurry, post-haste, pell-mell;

without delay, expeditiously, with dispatch, like a shot, like a flash, in a flash, in the blink of an eye, in a wink, in a trice, in no time (at all), on the double, at the speed of light, like an arrow from a bow;

informal double quick, in double quick time, p.d.q. (pretty damn quick), nippily, like (greased) lightning, at warp speed, hell for leather, like mad, like crazy, like the wind, like a bomb, like nobody's business, like a scalded cat, like the deuce, a mile a minute, like a bat out of hell, at warp speed;

British, informal like the clappers, at a rate of knots, like billy-o;

North American, informal lickety-split;

literary apace.

▷antonyms slowly.

2 his wheels were stuck fast:

securely, tightly, immovably, fixedly, firmly.

3 Richard's fast asleep:

deeply, sound, completely.

4 she lived fast and dangerously:

wildly, dissolutely, intemperately, immoderately, rakishly, recklessly, self-indulgently, extravagantly.

word links	fast
tachy- related prefix, as in tachycardia, tachygraphy

fast (1) Oxford Dictionary of English