Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EXPEDITE
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pronounce
EXPEDITE:
Say it "ECKS puh dite."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
In Latin, pes or pedis means "foot."
And pedis also means "fetter," a chain for the feet. If something fetters you, it stops you from doing what you want, or at least slows you down, as if it's chaining your feet together.
And if it seems to hurry you up, or set you free, as if unchaining your feet? That could be unfetter, sure, especially for a person: "I feel wonderfully unfettered after clearing my desk of clutter."
But when a process, instead of person, seems freed from sluggish movements and is allowed to hurry along, instead of unfetter, we probably want the word expedite. "Cleaning off my desk really helped expedite my work." It's as if my work had feet--feet wading through clutter--and now that the clutter is gone, my work is strolling along easily, or even skipping or jogging.
Speaking of feet, see if you can recall the Latin version of the term "Hercules from his foot," meaning "a guess or an assumption about something much larger." It's ___ped__Hercul__.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
This word has Latin roots that basically mean "to unchain the feet." Imagine how slowly you're moving when your feet are chained together. And how quickly you're moving when those chains come off.
To expedite something is to make it happen quicker.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "to expedite the process," "to expedite production."
Other forms:
The other verb forms are "expedited" and "expediting."
When you need an adjective, use "expeditious," pronounced "ECK spid ISH us." The adverb is "expeditiously."
When you need a noun, use "expediency," pronounced "eck SPEED ee yun see."
It's worth being aware of a few other forms that grew out of the word "expedite." But over time, these forms took on different meanings:
1. There's the adjective "expedient" ("eck SPEED ee yunt"), but we don't often use it to mean "quick, helping things get quicker." Instead, we most often use it to mean "fitting, appropriate." We check out "expedient" in its own issue.
2. There's the noun "expedition" ("ECK spid ISH un"), but we don't often use it to mean "the act or process of speeding something up." Instead, we most often use it to mean "a journey to accomplish something."
how to use it:
Pick the formal, common word "expedite" when you need a serious, businesslike tone.
Talk about people, events, or decisions that expedite something, usually some kind of process.
Examples of processes we often expedite include work, growth, movement, improvement, production, construction, and recovery. And all kinds of long, complex, paperwork-riddled procedures, like getting a prisoner released or getting a child adopted.
examples:
"Place [the plant cuttings] in a mild bottom-heat, which expedites their growth, even in the case of many hardy plants whose cuttings strike roots in the open soil."
— "Horticulture," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7
"Perhaps classical music has the most potent effect when used... immediately after exercise. The music needs to be calming and revitalising in order to expedite the body's return to a resting state."
— Costas Karageorghis, Dawn Rose, and Elias Mouchlianitis, Salon, 25 January 2021
has this page helped you understand "expedite"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "expedite" without saying "hasten" or "fast-track."
try it out:
Here in the US, the Food and Nutrition Service in the Department of Agriculture offers "expedited service" to get food quickly to people in desperate sudden need of it. People who apply for this assistance should get it within seven days.
To my mind, if a family is starving, a seven-day wait for food is not nearly expedited enough. But it's certainly more expeditious than the standard wait of up to thirty days.
With that process in mind as an example, talk about another process that desperately needs to be expedited. How have people already tried to expedite it? What are the consequences of too little expediency?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for March is "Yup, that's a real word."
Check out the definition of a silly-sounding word--yes, a real one, from the Oxford English Dictionary--and see if you can come up with the word itself. To see the answer, scroll all the way down.
Here's an example: "This three-syllable noun ending in the -ship suffix (as in 'friendship' and 'fellowship') means 'skill in traversing snow.'" The answer is "snowmanship." (Yup, that’s a real word!)
Try this one today:
Sharing its suffix with "clockwise" and "charmwise," this two-syllable adverb means "in the manner of a flattened position close to the ground."
review this word:
A. IMPEDE.
B. STAMPEDE.
C. PEDICURE.
2.
In a novel, Percy F. Westerman wrote, "He did everything in his power to expedite matters, but _____ was stronger than gold lace."
A. the blue shirt [a loyal team member]
B. white balance [accurate colors for photos]
C. red tape [too many rules and steps to follow]
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
In Latin, pes or pedis means "foot."
This word has Latin roots that basically mean "to unchain the feet." Imagine how slowly you're moving when your feet are chained together. And how quickly you're moving when those chains come off.
Part of speech:
Pick the formal, common word "expedite" when you need a serious, businesslike tone.
"Place [the plant cuttings] in a mild bottom-heat, which expedites their growth, even in the case of many hardy plants whose cuttings strike roots in the open soil."
Explain the meaning of "expedite" without saying "hasten" or "fast-track."
Here in the US, the Food and Nutrition Service in the Department of Agriculture offers "expedited service" to get food quickly to people in desperate sudden need of it. People who apply for this assistance should get it within seven days.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
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