Sprint

//spɹɪnt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A short race at top speed.
  2. 2
    a quick run wordnet
  3. 3
    A burst of speed or activity.
  4. 4
    In Agile software development, a period of development of a fixed time that is preceded and followed by meetings.
Verb
  1. 1
    To run, cycle, etc. at top speed for a short period. ambitransitive

    ""So I broke away early this mornin', gave my guard a kick in the tummy that laid him out, and sprinted for the camp."

  2. 2
    run very fast, usually for a short distance wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dashair raceautomobile racebicycle raceboat racebound

Example

More examples

"During a sprint through the pedestrian precinct, I collided with a man eating a currywurst."

Etymology

Alteration of earlier sprent (“to leap; bound; dart”), from Northern Middle English sprenten, from Old Norse *sprenta (for later spretta), from Proto-Germanic *sprantijaną, causative of Proto-Germanic *sprintaną (“to jump up; bounce”), from Proto-Indo-European *sprend-, *sprendʰ- (“to flinch; jump”), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to twitch; fidget; flinch; jump; be quick”). Cognate with Middle High German sprenzen (“to sprinkle; splash”), Swedish spritta (“to startle”), Icelandic spretta (“to spring forth; emerge; arise; develop”).

Related phrases

canoe sprinthollow sprintkayak sprintsprint carsprint finishwind sprintfast runmobile providerphone companyphone servicequick runrun fast

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.