breakneck

comparative more breakneck · superlative most breakneck

1. Dangerously fast; hell-for-leather.

   breakneck pace

   3 more examples

   He came running around the corner at a breakneck pace and couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting the fruit stand.

   The line to Dunières conists of a series of breakneck descents almost invariably ended by a violent curve and followed immediately by a panting climb, on which the engine barked thunderously but failed unhappily to maintain its booked speed of 13 m.p.h.

   1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668

   The use of machine learning in this field is hardly new, but the breakneck pace at which it is improving is worrying, Lund says: “With the advent of ChatGPT, the future is bleak.”

   2023 June 27, Clea Skopeliti, “‘The future is bleak’: how AI concerns are shaping graduate’s career choices”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

1. not comparableDangerously fast.

   I ran breakneck another hundred yards.

   2009, Carlos Reid, Stalking the Warden, page 165

plural breaknecks

1. A fall that breaks the neck.
2. A dangerous steep place from which one could fall and be injured.