Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To make something faster or accelerate its pace: To cause an increase in the speed or rate of something.
   • To stimulate, invigorate, or give new life or energy to: To make something more active, lively, or intense.
   • To arouse or sharpen a feeling or sense: To make a sensation, emotion, or appetite more acute.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To become faster or accelerate: To increase in speed or pace.
   • To show signs of life or become more active: To become animated or lively.
   • (Archaic/Medical) To begin to show signs of fetal movement: For a pregnant woman to begin to feel the fetus move.

Usage Examples

• Transitive Verb:

  • The news did nothing to quicken his steps. (The news did not make him walk faster.)
  • A good debate can quicken the mind. (A good debate can stimulate the mind.)
  • The spices will quicken your appetite. (The spices will sharpen your appetite.)

• Intransitive Verb:

  • His pulse began to quicken with fear. (His pulse began to beat faster because of fear.)
  • Interest in the project quickened after the successful demo. (Interest in the project became more active after the successful demonstration.)
  • She quickened in her fifth month of pregnancy. (She began to feel fetal movement in her fifth month.)

Advanced Usage

• "to quicken the pace": to increase the speed of an activity or process.
  • We need to quicken the pace of development to meet the deadline.
• "to quicken one's interest": to stimulate or renew someone's interest.
  • The mysterious clue quickened the detective's interest in the case.

Variants and Related Words

• Quick (adj): Moving fast or done at high speed; mentally agile.
  • She has a quick mind.
• Quickening (n): The process of becoming faster or more lively; the first feeling of fetal movement.
  • The quickening of commerce was evident in the bustling market.
• Quickener (n): (Rare) Something that quickens or enlivens.

Synonyms

• Accelerate: To increase in speed.
• Stimulate: To encourage or arouse activity or growth.
• Enliven: To make more lively or cheerful.
• Invigorate: To give strength or energy to.
• Sharpen: To make or become more acute or intense.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Quicken" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)

Related Idioms

• "Quicken the blood": To excite or stir one's emotions or passions.
  • The sound of the drums quickened the blood of the warriors.
• "The quick and the dead": (An idiom using the root word "quick" in its archaic sense meaning "alive.") Refers to all people, both the living and the dead.
  • This law applies to the quick and the dead.

Verb

1. give new life or energy to
   • A hot soup will revive me
   • This will renovate my spirits
   • This treatment repaired my health
2. show signs of life
   • the fetus quickened
3. give life or energy to
   • The cold water invigorated him
4. make keen or more acute
   • whet my appetite
5. move faster
   • The car accelerated