haste, hurry, speed, expedition, dispatch mean quickness in movement or action. haste applies to personal action and implies urgency and precipitancy and often rashness.

Despite this haste, there is plenty of waste. It has been done in haste.

In spite of all their haste, they didn’t have time to finish. Officials acted in haste (= too quickly), without understanding the situation.

Definition of haste noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

haste (heɪst) n. 1. swiftness of motion; speed. 2. unnecessarily quick action; thoughtless, rash, or undue speed: Haste makes waste. 3. urgent need of quick action; a hurry.

Feb 15, 2026 · Noun haste (usually uncountable, plural hastes) Speed; swiftness; dispatch. We were running late so we finished our meal in haste.

Rash or headlong action; precipitateness. Forgot the tickets in their haste to catch the train.

They felt the need for haste. urgent need of quick action; a hurry or rush: to be in haste to get ahead in the world. unnecessarily quick action; thoughtless, rash, or undue speed: Haste makes waste. …

Haste most commonly refers to urgency, such as in completing a task. It can also be used as another word for speed or swiftness, as in We have to move with haste if we want to make it on time.

When something is done in haste, it's done fast, and often with carelessness. In his haste to finish the paper, he didn't notice he had replaced "taste" with "waste" during spell-checking, so his title became …