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Definition of "hasten" []

  • To move or act swiftly. (verb-intransitive)
  • To cause to hurry. (verb-transitive)
  • To speed up; accelerate: fanned the wet paint to hasten drying. See Synonyms at speed. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "hasten" in a sentence
  • "The answers to these letters left no hope that the question would be submitted to the Chambers in time to have the result known before the adjournment of Congress, and by the refusal to hasten the convocation of the Chambers before the last of December showed unequivocally that, so far from taking all measures permitted by the constitution to _hasten_ the period of presenting the law, it was to be left to the most remote period of the ordinary course of legislation."
  • ""There was no regular order of march, but each rushed onward at his utmost speed, praying aloud to God for help to increase it, and calling frantically to his fellows to 'hasten, _hasten_ to the rescue of all they held most dear.'"
  • "I pretended to go into the city: I did so; and returned about the hour I supposed my brother in the wood: I fastened my horse at the entrance of it, changed my dress, put a mask on my face, and crept on towards the lower part; I distinguished him through trees - let me hasten from the remembrance!"