What does "quick" mean?
Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
Quick
/kwɪk/ adj, adv, name, noun, verb
adj, adv, name, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
- Grammar: quick is listed as adj, adv, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: fast, immediate, prompt, able.
- Useful contrasts: dead, slow, arduous activity.
- Usage evidence: Be quick, or you will miss the train.
How to use "quick"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "quick" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "quick" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "quick" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "quick" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "quick" is acting as adj, adv, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "fast" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "quick", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
- 2 any area of the body that is highly sensitive to pain (as the flesh underneath the skin or a fingernail or toenail) wordnet
- 3 Plants used in making a quickset hedge
"The works […] are curiously hedged with quick."
- 4 The life; the mortal point; a vital part; a part susceptible to serious injury or keen feeling.
"This test nippeth, […] this toucheth the quick."
- 5 Synonym of living (“those who are alive”). archaic, with-definite-article
"the quick and the dead"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Quitchgrass.
"Wild bird, whose warble, liquid sweet, Rings Eden thro' the budded quicks"
- 7 A fast bowler.
Verb
- 1 To amalgamate surfaces prior to gilding or silvering by dipping them into a solution of mercury in nitric acid. transitive
- 2 To quicken. archaic, poetic, transitive
"I rose as if quicked by a spur I was bound to obey."
Adjective
- 1 Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast.
"I ran to the station – but I wasn't quick enough."
- 2 Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.
"That was a quick meal."
- 3 Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.
"You have to be very quick to be able to compete in ad-lib theatrics."
- 4 Mentally agile, alert, perceptive.
"My father is old but he still has a quick wit."
- 5 Easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
"She has a very quick temper."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 Alive, living. archaic
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Ieſus Chriſt, who ſhall iudge the quicke and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdome:"
- 7 At the stage where it can be felt to move in the uterus. archaic
"Whoever does any act under such circumstances that if he thereby caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide, and does by such act cause the death of a quick unborn child, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine."
- 8 Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling. archaic
"she's quick; the child brags in her belly already: tis yours"
- 9 Flowing, not stagnant. archaic
- 10 Burning, flammable, fiery. archaic
"And it seemed to me that the dream smote the roof above my bed, and the roof opened and disclosed the outer dark, and in the dark travelled a bearded star, and the night was quick with fiery signs."
- 11 Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen. obsolete
"[…] the ayre is quicke there, / And it perces and ſharpens the ſtomacke,"
- 12 productive; not "dead" or barren
- 13 Not cryptic.
- 14 Being a distinctively sensitive kind of glaciomarine clay that may behave like a watery fluid under stress.
"Note that quick clay is a subet of brittle material; all quick clay is brittle, but not all brittle clay is quick.) Glaciomarine clay turns into quick clay after extensive pore water leaching by ground- and rainwater."
Adjective
- 1 moving quickly and lightly wordnet
- 2 easily aroused or excited wordnet
- 3 performed with little or no delay wordnet
- 4 accomplished rapidly and without delay wordnet
- 5 hurried and brief wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 apprehending and responding with speed and sensitivity wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Quickly, in a quick manner.
"Get rich quick."
- 2 Answer quickly.
"Quick, how do you spell 'Krabs'?"
Adverb
- 1 with little or no delay wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Antonyms
Example
"Be quick, or you will miss the train."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "quick"?
Common synonyms include: fast, immediate, prompt, able, aboveground, abrupt.
How do you use "quick" in a sentence?
Be quick, or you will miss the train.
How do you pronounce "quick"?
Pronounced /kwɪk/.
Etymology
From Middle English quik, quic (“living, alive, active”), from Old English cwic (“alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwiku (“alive, lively quick”), from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive, lively, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”), *gʷeyh₃w- (“to live”). For semantic development, compare lively. Cognate with Dutch kwik, kwiek (“lively, quick”), German keck (“sassy, cheeky”), Danish kvik (“lively, quick-witted, quick”), kvæg (“cattle”), Faroese kvikur (“quick”), Icelandic kvikur (“lively, quick”), Norn kvikk, hwikk (“living, swarming, teeming”), Norwegian kvikk (“quick, lively, quick-witted”), Swedish kvick (“quick, witty”), and also (from Indo-European) with Greek βίος (víos, “life”), Latin vivus (“alive”), Lithuanian gývas (“alive”), Latvian dzīvs (“alive”), Russian живо́й (živój, “alive, lively, quick”), Polish żywy (“alive”), Welsh byw (“alive”), Irish beo (“alive”), biathaigh (“to feed”), Northern Kurdish jîn (“to live”), jiyan (“life”), giyan (“soul”), can (“soul”), Sanskrit जीव (jīva, “alive”), Albanian nxit (“to urge, stimulate”). Doublet of jiva.