Promptitude
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of being prompt; alacrity. uncountable, usually
"The pleasure evinced by Sir Charles was only less than that of his lady, and, as he appeared every way worthy of her, and sensible of her value, Mr. Glentworth bade her adieu with the more cheerfulness, and, on their return to the hotel, Isabella had ceased to lament the transaction, and all agreed to praise that promptitude of action which had enabled him to perform his wishes so happily."
- 2 the characteristic of doing things without delay wordnet
Example
More examples"During the last week the story had run from him with a facility that had surprised and delighted him; words came to him without effort, ranging themselves into line with the promptitude of well-drilled soldiery; sentences and paragraphs marched down the clean-swept spaces of his paper, like companies and platoons defiling upon review; his chapters were brigades that he marshaled at will, falling them in one behind the other, each preceded by its chapter-head, like an officer in the space between two divisions."
Etymology
From Middle English promptitude, from Late Latin prōmptitūdō, from Classical Latin prōmptus. By surface analysis, prompt + -itude.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.