Expressions of Pace: English Vocabulary List

happening extremely quickly, often before one has time to react or notice

"He was gone in a flash."

"He was gone in a flash and we did not even see him leave the room."

very quickly; immediately

"Get over here PDQ."

"Get over here PDQ because we need your help with something urgent and important."

immediately; without delay

"The patient needs help stat."

"The patient needs help stat so the nurse called the doctor immediately."

to complete a task, activity, or process as quickly as possible

"They speedrun the game every night."

"The professional gamer managed to speedrun the entire game in less than thirty minutes."

to leave or depart quickly, often suddenly

"Let's jet out of here quickly."

"We need to jet if we want to catch our flight because the traffic to the airport is very heavy."

to speed up or intensify effort on a task

"He smashed the gas and sped away."

"The reckless driver smashed the gas and sped away from the police car that was trying to pull him over."

to run, leave, or move quickly, often to escape or get somewhere fast

"We need to book it to catch the train."

"The children saw the school bus arriving so they had to book it down the street to catch it."

to purposefully act slowly

"Stop dragging your feet and decide."

"The government is dragging its feet on passing the new environmental laws that everyone is waiting for."

a person who moves, acts, or responds slowly; often used teasingly

"Don't be slowpoke."

"The impatient driver honked repeatedly at the slowpoke ahead of him in traffic."

extremely slow speed or progress, often used to express frustration or exaggeration

"The traffic was moving at a snail's pace."

"The old tractor was moving at a snail pace so we were late for the appointment."

slow to learn about, adopt, or join something that others are already aware of or involved in

"He finally joined the trend, late to the party."

"The company was late to the party with their new smartphone because their competitors had already released better models."

to become mentally absent, distracted, or unresponsive

"He zones out during boring lectures."

"I tend to zone out during long meetings when the topic does not interest me or affect my work directly."

to do something very slowly, often more slowly than necessary, sometimes to the annoyance of others

"You took your sweet time getting here."

"The lazy worker took his sweet time finishing the task because he knew there was no deadline."