expeditious
adj/ɛkspɪˈdɪʃəs/
Etymology From Middle English expedycius (“useful, fitting”), from Latin expedītus (“disengaged, ready, convenient, prompt; unfettered, unencumbered”), past participle of expediō.
1
Fast, prompt, speedy.
- Near-synonym: expedited
- Our coachman and horses are so extremely expeditious!—I believe we drive faster than anybody.1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 15:
1 more example
- An “expeditious cessation of hostilities” is essential to “stabilise European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war and re-establish strategic stability with Russia”, the document says.2025 December 6, “US security strategy urges ‘resistance’ to Europe and shrugs off Russian threat”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
2
Of a process or thing Completed or done with efficiency and speed; facilitating speed.
- Near-synonym: expedited
- As they thus pressed forward, longing doubtless to exchange the easy curving line, which the sinuosities of the bay compelled them to adopt, for a straiter and more expeditious path, though less conformable to the line of beauty, Sir Arthur observed a human figure on the beach advancing to meet them.1816, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 153:
1 more example
- Now, there was a sort of rough-and-ready law in Ireland in those days which was of great convenience to persons desirous of expeditious justice[…].1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “I return to Ireland, and exhibit my splendour and generosity in that kingdom”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC, page 199:
- Derived terms
- expeditiousness, unexpeditious
- Related terms
- expedient, expedite, expedition, expeditionary, expeditiously