How to Use rapid in a Sentence

rapid

1 of 2 adjective
  • There's been rapid growth in the number of new businesses in the town.
  • She carefully guided the boat through the rapid water.
  • Scientists are concerned about the rapid disappearance of the island's coral reefs.
  • Two rapid mistakes leads to an easy goal.
    — Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
  • People love to end with a rapid fire!
    — Kate Aurthur, Variety, 26 June 2026
  • Your breathing should be deep and rapid.
    — Jeff Wagner, CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Let’s wrap up with some rapid fire questions.
    — Terry Terrones, HollywoodReporter, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Ferrari has been pushing ahead at a rapid pace.
    — Justin Klawans, TheWeek, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Is rapid weight gain the cause of the patient’s distress?
    — Literary Hub, 20 May 2026
  • The rapid influx has raised alarms among labor groups.
    — Merritt Enright, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The rapid rollout has had its tradeoffs.
    — Moriah Balingit, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2026
  • That rise is rapid – more than 6 feet per century.
    — Paul Bierman, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
  • It's been a bit of a messy first half, which started with two rapid yellow cards.
    — Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 27 June 2026
  • That has brought an end to several years of rapid growth in the sector.
    — Matthew Martin, semafor.com, 26 Jan. 2026
  • But amid that fear came a rapid series of responses.
    — Valentina Toro, Hartford Courant, 19 June 2026
  • Yet in some cases, the virus takes off by rapid replication in host cells.
    — Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2024
  • When angry or threatened, the owls make a rapid clicking sound with their beaks.
    — Joan Morris, Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2025
  • That’s a rapid timeline in a country where most adoptions can take a year or longer.
    — Alana Semuels, Time, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Yes, there are rapid changes happening in college sports.
    — Sen. Rand Paul Outkick, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
  • From there, a rapid bus line would go to Kammerer Road.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 2025
  • But the drama's rapid success wasn't without stress.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
  • That rapid turnover pushes demand—and prices—higher.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Some food companies used the moment of rapid changes to pad their own profits.
    — Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Officials said the fire continued to grow at a rapid pace overnight.
    — Christian Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2023
  • That the league is expanding yet again speaks to its early success and rapid growth.
    — Hailey Salvian, New York Times, 21 May 2026
  • The deal comes amid another wave of rapid change at the Pac-12.
    — Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 17 Mar. 2026
  • See photos and read more about the important work being done to track the rapid melt.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 17 Sep. 2025
  • That rapid feedback aligns with what Ohs sees as healthy for film in general.
    — Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 24 Apr. 2026
  • The rapid rotations of the grout cleaning brush blast away dirt and grime quickly.
    — Bestreviews, Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Despite that need, there are no rapid tests approved for Bundibugyo.
    — Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 11 June 2026

rapid

2 of 2 noun
  • We’re headed down class 4 rapids in our raft with six of our best friends.
    — Wayne Chan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
  • The whirlpool rapids at the bottom of the fall can reach 30mph.
    — Currie Engel, Time, 10 July 2019
  • Hamilton and his roommate are just two of many who have been wronged by the rapid.
    — Zoya Qureshi, The Atlantic, 29 Dec. 2022
  • At first, this force is strong like rapids, flooding everything.
    — Angela Garbes, Health.com, 29 May 2018
  • Grab one or simply float on your own down this series of small rapids in the middle of town.
    — Brent Crane, Outside Online, 1 July 2018
  • With fewer strong flows to whisk this debris away, more of it is piling up at those bends and rapids.
    — Raymond Zhong, New York Times, 6 June 2023
  • As the tide goes out, the rapids flow in the opposite direction.
    — Walter Nicklin, Washington Post, 27 June 2019
  • My tent was pitched on the edge of a cliff, directly overhanging the rapids.
    — Arthur Hart, idahostatesman, 23 Mar. 2018
  • Paddling a Bellyak through rapids requires a lot of upper body strength.
    — Jen Murphy, WSJ, 18 Aug. 2017
  • Other times, your tipsy little craft defies the odds and makes it through the rapids.
    — Mary Carole McCauley, baltimoresun.com, 13 Dec. 2019
  • With just a few mild rapids, the route is a favorite among families and newbies.
    — Terry Ward, Travel + Leisure, 17 June 2026
  • With waterfalls and rapids blocking the path, the whale can’t get too far up the river.
    — Angela Fritz, Washington Post, 14 June 2017
  • Some rushed through the final rapids, while others got hung up on the rocks, got pushed to the side, or capsized.
    — Annie Gentile, Courant Community, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Drivers are also warned against driving in strong currents or rapids.
    — Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 19 May 2026
  • The two men were marooned in the middle of the river's rapids after the scow got stuck on rocks in the stream.
    — Doha Madani, NBC News, 3 Nov. 2019
  • The Smokey Falls full-day trip gives the biggest thrill, with class 3 and 4 rapids.
    — Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 16 May 2018
  • Another of the rapid’s defining features is the massive hole at its top.
    — Owen Clarke, Outside, 23 Feb. 2026
  • These sections are more wild and less developed, but there are also rapids to contend with in spots.
    — Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The constant rapids were a reminder of Schoen’s Suriname home.
    — Abrielle Kate Maddison, Austin American Statesman, 11 Feb. 2026
  • Whitewater kayaks are built for the rigors of paddling down rushing rapids.
    — Doug Newcomb and Joe Jackson, Popular Mechanics, 10 June 2023
  • Waterspouts twist across the surface of the lake, while the island’s uneven dirt paths turn to rapids.
    — Evan Ackerman, IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2019
  • The team wasn’t inspired by a river’s rapids or ocean currents, however.
    — Andrew Paul Aug 14, Popular Science, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The Chattahoochee’s rapids are now used for white water rafting.
    — Noah Robertson, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Theron races through the forest and rafts through the rapids while Egerton follows her into caves and down the side of a cliff.
    — Arushi Jacob, Variety, 25 Mar. 2026
  • One has a surf-sized wave that ripples down it every few seconds whilst others are are more like white-water rapids.
    — Caroline Reid, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • But these all have rapids or waterfalls that still impede transportation.
    — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 4 Jan. 2026
  • The roaring rapids can be heard throughout, and all sites are wooded with ample privacy.
    — Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2018
  • No appointments are required for the free rapid and PCR tests.
    — Sarah Ladd, The Courier-Journal, 22 Jan. 2022
  • The ride was perfect, with the gentlest rapids and the only soundtrack coming from the water and birds around me.
    — Stephanie Stephens, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2023
  • And the leader of the trip, Norm Nevills, is looking at the river to see how to get through these rapids.
    — Brianne Kane, Scientific American, 5 June 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rapid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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