Word
Of
The
Day
expedite
expedite • \EK-spuh-dyte\ •
verb
To expedite something is to cause it to happen faster.
// We’ll do what we can to
expedite the processing of your application.
See the entry >
Examples:
“The new task force ... is required to submit an initial report in 60 days and final report in 90 days with recommendations to simplify, improve and
expedite hiring.” — Blake Paterson,
NOLA.com (New Orleans, Louisiana), 7 Apr. 2026
Did you know?
Need someone to do something in a hurry? You can tell that person to step on it, or you can tell them to expedite it. Figurative feet are involved in both cases, though less obviously in the second choice.
Expedite comes from the Latin verb
expedire, meaning “to free from entanglement or difficulty.” The feet come in at that word’s root: it traces back to Latin
ped- or
pes, meaning “foot.”
Expedient and
expedition also stepped into English by way of
expedire.
