quicken
13 synonyms and 3 antonyms for quicken, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — To make something happen faster or more quickly.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. verb
To make something happen faster or more quickly.
“The good news quickened her pace back to the office.”
Opposites
2. verb
To bring to life or stir into activity; to arouse or stimulate.
“The speech quickened the crowd's enthusiasm for the cause.”
Opposites
How to use quicken
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Etymology
Built from the old sense of "quick" meaning "alive" (as in "the quick and the dead") plus the verb-forming suffix "-en," so it originally meant "to bring to life."
Full origin of quicken →