hurried

1. 1
   adjective

   Carried out too quickly, with little time or care.

   Like a meal eaten standing up with one eye on the clock.

   The report had a hurried quality, full of small mistakes.

   After a hurried goodbye at the gate, he vanished into the crowd.

   Similarhasty, rushed, quick, brief, perfunctory

   Oppositeleisurely, unhurried, careful, thorough

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into an adjective that judges the manner of an act: a hurried meal, a hurried glance, a hurried note. It compares with more and most (a more hurried reply), never with -er or -est. Unlike the past-tense verb, which simply reports speed, the adjective usually carries a quiet criticism: haste bought at the cost of care.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of hurry.

   The waiter hurried between tables during the busy lunch rush.

   They had hurried home before the storm broke.

   Note

   One spelling serves as both the simple past and the past participle, with the y of hurry turning to i before -ed. Because hurry is both intransitive and transitive, the participle forms perfects (they had hurried home) and passives as well: someone can be hurried into a decision, urged on faster than they would choose. In mining, coal itself is hurried, conveyed from the working to the tramway.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2