Expeditious

Expeditious is an adjective meaning performed with speed and efficiency, characterized by promptness in action or processing. It is commonly used in formal writing and professional contexts to emphasize timely and efficient handling of tasks, inquiries, or services. The term is often paired with nouns describing processes or responses, such as “expeditious processing” or “expeditious service.”

Etymology traces expeditious to the Latin expeditus, meaning unimpeded or free from encumbrance, which in turn derives from expeditire, to disentangle or prepare. The sense of removing obstacles and enabling swift movement contributed to the modern meaning of acting quickly and efficiently.

Usage and context vary, but expeditious is typically employed to describe actions, procedures, or responses rather than people. In legal and bureaucratic settings, expeditious proceedings or expeditious disposition of matters are common phrases. In customer service or administration, organizations may be praised for providing an expeditious response or processing an application expeditiously. The adverb form is expeditiously, and the noun form is expeditiousness; the related verb is expedite.

Related terms include prompt, swift, and efficient, which carry similar meanings but with differing nuances. Expedited is a common alternative when speed is achieved by prioritization or special handling. Expeditiousness emphasizes the quality of speed itself, while expediting emphasizes the act of speeding up a particular task.