apace

A1P3A1C3E1
US, UK/əˈpeɪs/

adverb

Quickly, rapidly, with speed.

“Construction of the new offices is proceeding apace.”

UncommonScrabble 9

Meanings

adverbapace (not comparable)
  1. not comparableQuickly, rapidly, with speed.

    Construction of the new offices is proceeding apace.

    5 more examples

    Gallop apace, you fiery footed ſteedes, / Towards Phœbus lodging, ſuch a Wagoner / As Phaeton would whip you to the weſt, / And bring in Cloudie night immediately.

    c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 65

    Ow faire Hippolita, our nuptiall houre / Drawes on apace: foure happy daies bring in / Another Moon[…]

    c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 145

    (To one, it is ten years of years. ... Yet now, and in this place, Surely she leaned o'er me—her hair Fell all about my face. ... Nothing: the autumn fall of leaves. The whole year sets apace.)

    1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel, The Germ; reprinted in Poems [Collection of British and American Authors; 1380], copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1873, OCLC 933409239, page 2, lines 19–24

    The process which, if not checked, will abolish Man, goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists. […] Once we killed bad men: now we liquidate unsocial elements.

    1943, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, “The Abolition of Man”, in The Abolition of Man […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published 1947, →OCLC, page 46

    Twilight was coming on apace and a star or two was already out, but the remains of the sunset could still be seen in the west.

    1954, C. S. Lewis, chapter 1, in The Horse and His Boy, Collins, published 1998

    Synonyms: expeditiously, swiftly

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbQuickly, rapidly, with speed.

More synonyms by meaning

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old Frenchà pas“at a quick pace”
  2. Middle Englishapās“step by step, slowly; quickly, rapidly; at once, promptly”
  3. Englishapace

From Middle English apās (“step by step, slowly; quickly, rapidly; at once, promptly”), from Old French à pas (“at a quick pace”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Cantonese 飛快 /飞快, 急速
  • 飛快 /飞快 (fei¹ faai³)quickly, rapidly, with speed
  • 急速 (gap¹ cuk¹)quickly, rapidly, with speed
Czech rychle, rychlým tempem
  • rychlequickly, rapidly, with speed
  • rychlým tempemquickly, rapidly, with speed
Finnish rapsakasti, ripeästi
  • rapsakastiquickly, rapidly, with speed
  • ripeästiquickly, rapidly, with speed
  • rivakastiquickly, rapidly, with speed
French rapidement, aller bon train
  • rapidementquickly, rapidly, with speed
  • aller bon trainquickly, rapidly, with speed
German rasch
  • raschquickly, rapidly, with speed
Polish szybko
  • szybkoquickly, rapidly, with speed
Portuguese ligeiro, rapidamente
  • ligeiroquickly, rapidly, with speed
  • rapidamentequickly, rapidly, with speed
Russian быстро, ско́ро
  • быстро (bystro)quickly, rapidly, with speed
  • ско́ро (skóro)quickly, rapidly, with speed
  • спе́шно (spéšno)quickly, rapidly, with speed

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with apace

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

apace. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apace

MLA

“apace.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apace. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “apace,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apace.

Source: apace on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.