Word of the Day

: July 22, 2018

festinate

verb FESS-tuh-nayt

What It Means

: hasten

festinate in Context

The patient's tendency to festinate meant that he was at risk of falling.

"He rocketed almost uncontrollably to the piano, but once there, played a Chopin nocturne with exquisite control and timing and grace—only to festinate once again as soon as the music ended." — Oliver Sacks, Musicophila, 2007

Did You Know?

Festinate is one among many in the category of words whose early recorded use is in the works of William Shakespeare. He used it as an adjective (which is pronounced \FESS-tuh-nut\) in King Lear, for example: "Advise the Duke where you are going, to a most festinate preparation." Perhaps the Bard knew about festinatus, the Latin predecessor of festinate, or was familiar with the Latin proverb festina lente—"make haste slowly." Shakespeare also used the adverb festinately in Love's Labour's Lost: "Bring him festinately hither," Don Ariano de Armado orders. First evidence of the verb festinate, meaning "to hasten," occurs post-Shakespeare, however.