RAPID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rapid mean? 

• RAPID (noun)
  The noun RAPID has 1 sense:

1. a part of a river where the current is very fast

  Familiarity information: RAPID used as a noun is very rare.

• RAPID (adjective)
  The adjective RAPID has 2 senses:

1. done or occurring in a brief period of time

2. characterized by speed; moving with or capable of moving with high speed

  Familiarity information: RAPID used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAPID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A part of a river where the current is very fast

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("rapid" is a kind of...):

waterway (a navigable body of water)

Holonyms ("rapid" is a part of...):

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

• RAPID (adjective)

Comparative: rapider   
Superlative: rapidest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Done or occurring in a brief period of time

Context example:

a rapid rise through the ranks

Similar:

fast (acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly)

Derivation:

rapidity; rapidness (a rate that is rapid)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characterized by speed; moving with or capable of moving with high speed

Synonyms:

rapid; speedy

Context example:

a speedy errand boy

Similar:

fast (acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly)

Derivation:

rapidity; rapidness (a rate that is rapid)

 Context examples 

We should soon come upon rapids, he explained, which would make its further use impossible.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The melt season began with a record low yearly maximum extent in March and a rapid ice loss through May.

(Arctic Sea Ice Annual Minimum Ties Second Lowest on Record, NASA)

Importantly, they divide and grow without causing cancer, which tends to be a risk with rapid cell division.

(Newly discovered cells restore liver damage in mice without cancer risk, NIH)

These ULXs are found embedded in regions where stars are currently forming at a rapid rate.

(Chandra Samples Galactic Goulash, NASA)

None of this has been easy, but you have been maturing at a rapid rate.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

What is causing the rapid retreat?

(Retreat of Yakutat Glacier, NASA)

So on they went till they came to a rapid stream.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She wondered at the rapid flight of the Monkeys, but was glad the journey was over.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

He heard a shot, then two shots, in rapid succession, and he knew that Bill's ammunition was gone.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But, until now, astronomers had not spotted ‘black hole food’ — gas and dust — in large enough quantities to explain this rapid growth.

(ESO Observations Reveal Black Holes' Breakfast at the Cosmic Dawn, ESO)