hurry

/ˈhʌ.ɹi//ˈhʌ.ɹi/

hurry noun: a rushed action.

Noun

hurry (countable and uncountable, plural hurries)

A rushed action.
- Why are you in such a big hurry?
- At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe...1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202
An urgency.
- There is no hurry on that paperwork.
An incidence of a defensive pressure that forces the quarterback to throw the ball earlier than intended or rush their decision, often leading to an incomplete pass or failed play.
- At Alabama, Jedrick Wills Jr. anchored the right side of the offensive line for two years, allowing only one sack and three-and-a-half quarterback hurries on 714 snaps last season.2020 April 23, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on...
A tremolando passage for violins, etc., accompanying an exciting situation.

Verb

hurry (third-person singular simple present hurries, present participle hurrying, simple past and past participle hurried)

(intransitive) To do things quickly.
- He's hurrying because he's late.
- There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.[…]Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC
(intransitive) Often with up, to speed up the rate of doing something.
- If you don't hurry (up) you won't finish on time.
(transitive) To cause to be done quickly.
(transitive) To hasten; to impel to greater speed; to urge on.
- the rapid Stream presently draws him in , carries him away , and hurries him down violently.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
- They hurried him aboard a bark.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
(transitive) To impel to precipitate or thoughtless action; to urge to confused or irregular activity.
- And wild amazement hurries up and down / The little number of your doubtful friends.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
To put: to convey coal in the mine, e.g. from the working to the tramway.
- Elizabeth Day, aged seventeen […] "I have been nearly nine years in the pit. I trapped for two years when I first went, and have hurried ever since. I have hurried for my father until a year ago. I have to help to riddle and fill, […]1842, The Condition and Treatment of the Children Employed in the Mines, page 45

hurry meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

hurry in Hindi

hurry; haste: जल्दी jaldī
hurry, haste: जल्दबाज़ी jaldbāzī, घाई ghāī

hurry in Marathi

hurry, haste: घाई ghāī, धांदल dhāndal

hurry in Urdu

عجلت, بھاگ دوڑ, ہڑبڑاہٹ, جلدی, عجلت کرنا, بھاگ دوڑ کرنا

More languagesFewer languages

hurry in Bengali: তাড়াতাড়ি taṛataṛi
hurry in Telugu: వేగిరపడు vēgirapaḍu
hurry in Malayalam: തിടുക്കം tiṭukkaṁ, പരവേശം paravēśaṁ
hurry in Kannada: ತ್ವರೆ, ಆತುರ, ಧಾವಂತ, ಅವಸರ
hurry in Punjabi: ਜਲਦਬਾਜ਼ੀ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
hurry in Gujarati: ઉતાવળ utāvaḷ
hurry in Odia: ତରବର tarabara
hurry in Sanskrit: त्वर् tvar, त्वरते tvarate, तुरति turáti
hurry in Tagalog: pagmamadali, bilisan, magmadali
hurry in Arabic: عَجَلَة ʕajala, أَسْرَعَ ʔasraʕa, اِنْدَفَعَ indafaʕa
hurry in Thai: รีบ rîip, เร่ง rêng
hurry in Vietnamese: vội vàng, vội, mau lên, nhanh lên

Examples of hurry in a sentence

You are a big liar. Why are you in such a big hurry?
The policeman broke sixty on a residential street in his hurry to catch the thief.
They are in a hurry; they can’t wait for too long.

All 40 example sentences with hurry

Forms of hurry

Noun
plural	hurries
Verb
third-person singular present	hurries
present participle	hurrying
past participle	hurried
past	hurried

Past tense of hurry: hurried

Plural of hurry: hurries

Origin of hurry

From Middle English horien (“to rush, impel”), probably a variation of hurren (“to vibrate rapidly, buzz”), from Proto-Germanic *hurzaną (“to rush”) (compare Middle High German hurren (“to hasten”), Norwegian hurre (“to whirl around”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”) (compare Latin currō (“to run”), Tocharian A kursär/Tocharian B kwarsär (“league; course”)). Related to hurr, horse, rush. Alternative etymology derives hurry as a variant of harry.

Words formed from hurry

Phrases with hurry

Words that rhyme with hurry

1 more rhymesFewer rhymes

whurry

Questions about hurry

What does hurry mean?: Hurry means a rushed action.
What is hurry in Hindi?: Hurry in Hindi is जल्दी (jaldī), जल्दबाज़ी (jaldbāzī), घाई (ghāī). See Hurry meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is hurry?: Hurry can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce hurry?: Hurry is pronounced /ˈhʌ.ɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of hurry?: The plural of hurry is hurries.

Words near hurry in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-hurry.ogg, en-us-ne-hurry.ogg.

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