Word.ws English Dictionary

full steam

full steam is the alternative form of full speed ahead.

full steam is the alternative form of full steam ahead.

Meaning of full speed ahead

Noun

full speed ahead (uncountable)

  1. (usually) Maximum speed on a ship.
    • Then he gave it full speed ahead, and shot us into the inlet.
  2. (idiomatic) Maximum effort without reservations or delay.
    • We got the OK on the conversion project. It's full speed ahead.

See all 5 meanings of full speed ahead

Questions about full steam

What is full steam the alternative form of?
Full steam is the alternative form of full speed ahead.

Words near full steam in the dictionary

  1. full sibling
  2. full siblings
  3. full spectrum superiority
  4. full speed ahead
  5. full stack
  6. full steam
  7. full steam ahead
  8. full stop
  9. full stopped
  10. full stopping
  11. full stops

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: full steam (page history and authors); full speed ahead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “full steam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/full_steam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.