hastened; hastening
ˈhā-sᵊn-iŋ 
ˈhās-niŋ
: to move or act quickly
She hastened up the stairs.
1
: to encourage to move or act quickly : to urge on
hastened her to the door—
A. J. Cronin
A. J. Cronin2
: to cause to happen more quickly : accelerate
His death was hastened by alcoholism.
hasten the coming of a new order—D. W. Brogan
D. W. BroganExamples of hasten in a Sentence
His death was hastened by alcohol abuse.
hasten the activation of yeast with heat
Recent Examples on the Web
Instead, the soldiers carried bacteria that cause enteric fever and relapsing fever, two diseases that may have hastened the army’s downfall.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
There is even Depardieu’s own late son, Guillaume, whose death at age thirty-seven was hastened along by heroin use that had ruined his health, and over whom Ferrara recalls Depardieu shedding copious tears during one of their early meetings.
—Nick Pinkerton, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
And in a new study published in the journal Current Biology, Rascovan and his colleagues say those diseases likely include two unexpected pathogens that would have helped hasten the soldiers' demise.
—Ari Daniel, NPR, 24 Oct. 2025
Hart would be dead—from pneumonia, though his drinking had certainly hastened his demise—by November, just eight months after the triumph of that opening night, a triumph his former writing partner had achieved with someone else.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hasten
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Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
There is even Depardieu’s own late son, Guillaume, whose death at age thirty-seven was hastened along by heroin use that had ruined his health, and over whom Ferrara recalls Depardieu shedding copious tears during one of their early meetings.
—Nick Pinkerton, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
And in a new study published in the journal Current Biology, Rascovan and his colleagues say those diseases likely include two unexpected pathogens that would have helped hasten the soldiers' demise.
—Ari Daniel, NPR, 24 Oct. 2025
Hart would be dead—from pneumonia, though his drinking had certainly hastened his demise—by November, just eight months after the triumph of that opening night, a triumph his former writing partner had achieved with someone else.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hasten
Cite this Entry
“Hasten.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hasten. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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