Pronunciations (2)
-
/fɑːst/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- General-South-African
- New-Zealand
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/fæst/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
- Northern-England
Adjective
Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.
Usage- Dated
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
That rope is dangerously loose. Make it fast!
Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places
Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)
Usage- of people
- Examples
-
I still hear you sayin', "Dear one, hold me fast"
Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.
- Examples
-
This is a fast train.
I am going to buy a fast car.
Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light. Having a kinetic energy between 1 million and 20 million electron volts; often used to describe the energy state of free neutrons at the moment of their release by a nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reaction (i.e., before the neutrons have been slowed down by anything).
Usage- of a neutron
- Examples
-
Plutonium-240 has a much higher fission cross-section for fast neutrons than for thermal neutrons.
Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.
- Examples
-
Sydney is a fast city, and the pace is becoming increasingly more frantic.
Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.
- Examples
-
a fast racket, or tennis court
a fast track
More examples (2)
a fast billiard table
a fast dance floor
Able to transfer data in a short period of time.
Usage- of a piece of hardware
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
But at the microlevel it consists of an unimaginable number of atoms connected by springy chemical bonds, all jiggling around at a rate that even our fastest supercomputer might envy.
Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.
Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent.
Usage- of dyes or colours
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
All the washing has come out pink. That red tee-shirt was not fast.
Mineral pigments were probably the first materials used for dyeing. They were generally not fast to water.
More examples (1)
Cochineal is remarkably fast on protein fibers, remaining brilliant and saturated despite exposure to sunlight and washing.
Tenacious; retentive.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
-
Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.
Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
-
a fast woman
More examples (4)
[…] we remember once hearing a fast man suggest that they were evidently "nobs who had overdrawn the badger by driving fast cattle, and going it high" — the exact signification of which words we did not understand […]
Had Senator Wilson won the unenviable reputation of being a fast man—a lover of wine, or had he shown himself to the public in a state of inebriety, unable to stand erect in Fanueil Hall for instance, leaning upon the desk to “maintain the center of gravity,” and uttering words that fell sprawling in “muddy obscurity” from lips redolent of rum, rendering it necessary for a prompter and an interpreter to sculpture his speech into symmetry for the public ear and the public press, he would have been pelted from his high office with the indignant ballots of his constituents.
“I don’t like that young woman,” said Lady Hermione; she’s fast.” “Dear Lady!” “I’ve no doubt you think me old-fashioned. Well, I’m glad I am. I say she’s fast, and what’s more, heartless. I was watching her before supper, and I’m sorry for Tony Lee. She’s been flirting as hard as she can go with Harry Vibart-not to give it a worse name-and she’s got Jim Playfair on a string too. She can’t even leave Frank Bellingham alone, though she’s staying in his house.”
You're alone with her at last / And you're waiting 'til you think the time is right / Cause you've heard she's pretty fast / And you're hoping that she'll give you some tonight.
Uncharacteristically mature or promiscuous for one's age.
Usage- Dated
- Offensive
- vernacular
- of a girl or young woman
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
[…] if she is of the slightly faster kind that gives smart lunch parties at the Strand Corner House, her diet is sometimes a little stronger; she takes to novels of the orchid house and the tiger's lair, to the artless erotics of Miss Elinor Glyn, Mr Hubert Wales, and Miss Victoria Cross.
Ahead of the correct time or schedule.
- Examples
-
My watch is five minutes fast.
There must be something wrong with the hall clock. It is always fast.
More sensitive to light than average.
Usage- of photographic film
Noun
A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations.
Usage- UK usage
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
Adverb
In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound .
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
Hold this rope as fast as you can.
Do as I bid you, ſhut doores after you, Faſt binde, faſt finde, A Prouerbe neuer ſtale in thrifty minde.
More examples (1)
Nine hundred of the ſtrongeſt Men were employed to draw up theſe Cords by many Pulleys faſtned on the Poles, and thus, in leſs than three Hours, I was raiſed and flung into the Engine, and there tyed faſt.
Deeply or soundly .
Usage- of sleeping
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
The princess was sleeping fast, and her servants were fast asleep too.
Immediately following in place or time; close, very near .
- Examples
-
The horsemen came fast on our heels.
Fast by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped. / That ain't my style, said Casey. Strike one, the umpire said.
Quickly, with great speed; within a short time .
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
Please walk fast.
Do it as fast as you can.
More examples (1)
Faster than a speeding bit, the internet upended media and entertainment companies. Piracy soared, and sales of albums and films slid. Newspapers lost advertising and readers to websites. Stores selling books, CDs and DVDs went bust. Doomsayers predicted that consumers and advertisers would abandon pay-television en masse in favour of online alternatives.
Ahead of the correct time or schedule.
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
I think my watch is running fast.
Verb
To practice religious abstinence, especially from food.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
They fast during the day.
Thou didst fast and weep for the child.
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.
More examples (2)
1677 George Fox, The Hypocrites Fast and Feast Not God's Holy Day, p. 8 (paraphrasing Matthew 6:16-18). And is it not the Command of Christ, that in their Fast they should not appear unto men to fast?
It is at the core of the Vision Quest, the solitary period of fasting and closeness to the earth to discover one's life path and purpose.
To reduce or limit one's nutrition intake for medical or health reasons, to diet.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
The ideal would be to fast in a situation where you are not tempted by food
After the equilibration period, the rats designated for deprivation studies were made to fast for 24, 48, 72, or 96 hr according to experimental design.
To cause (a person or animal) to abstain, especially from eating.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
At 11 weeks of age, all mice were fasted overnight and underwent gallbladder ultrasonography to determine ejection fraction.
Kittens, when fasted overnight, were not hypoglycemic (<60 mg/dl).
Noun
The act or practice of fasting, religious abstinence from food.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
1677 George Fox, The Hypocrites Fast and Feast Not God's Holy Day, p. 8 (paraphrasing Matthew 6:16-18). And is it not the Command of Christ, that in their Fast they should not appear unto men to fast?
anciently a change of diet was not reckoned a fast; but it consisted in a perfect abstinence from all sustenance for the whole day till evening.
Any of the fasting periods in the liturgical year.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
1662 Peter Gunning, The Holy Fast of Lent Defended Against All Its Prophaners: Or, a Discourse, Shewing that Lent-Fast was First Taught the World by the Apostles (1677 [1662]), p. 13 (translation of the Paschal Epistle of Theophilus of Alexandria). And so may we enter the Fasts at hand, beginning Lent the 30th. day of the Month Mechir
Adjective
acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
fast film
on the fast track in school
More examples (2)
set a fast pace
a fast car
(used of timepieces) indicating a time ahead of or later than the correct time
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
my watch is fast
at a rapid tempo
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
the band played a fast fox trot
(of surfaces) conducive to rapid speeds
- Examples
-
a fast road
grass courts are faster than clay
resistant to destruction or fading
- Examples
-
fast colors
unrestrained by convention or morality
- Examples
-
Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society
deplorably dissipated and degraded
More examples (2)
riotous living
fast women
hurried and brief
- Examples
-
paid a flying visit
took a flying glance at the book
More examples (2)
a quick inspection
a fast visit
securely fixed in place
- Examples
-
the post was still firm after being hit by the car
unwavering in devotion to friend or vow or cause
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
a firm ally
loyal supporters
More examples (1)
fast friends
(of a photographic lens or emulsion) causing a shortening of exposure time
- Examples
-
a fast lens
Noun
abstaining from food
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Adverb
quickly or rapidly (often used as a combining form)
- Examples
-
how fast can he get here?
ran as fast as he could
More examples (4)
needs medical help fast
fast-running rivers
fast-breaking news
fast-opening (or fast-closing) shutters
firmly or closely
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
held fast to the rope
her foot was stuck fast
More examples (1)
held tight
Verb
abstain from certain foods, as for religious or medical reasons
- Examples
-
Catholics sometimes fast during Lent
abstain from eating
- Examples
-
Before the medical exam, you must fast