expedite
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2026
⏱️ 1 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 23, 2026 is:
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.
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.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for May 23rd. |
| 0:11.8 | Today's word is expedite, spelled E-X-P-E-D-I-T-E. |
| 0:17.4 | Expedite is a verb. To expedite something is to cause it to happen faster. Here's the word used in a sentence from nola.com. |
| 0:25.6 | 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. |
| 0:39.5 | Need someone to do something in a hurry? |
| 0:42.1 | You can tell that person to step on it or you can tell them to expedite it. |
| 0:46.8 | Figurative feat are involved in both cases, though less obviously in the second choice. |
| 0:53.5 | Expedite comes from the Latin verb Expedire, |
| 0:56.9 | meaning to free from entanglement or difficulty. |
| 1:00.3 | The feet come in at the word's root. |
| 1:02.8 | It traces back to the Latin ped, PED, or PES, meaning foot. |
| 1:08.1 | Expedient and Expedition also stepped into English by way of expedire. |
| 1:13.6 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:20.3 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 16 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Merriam-Webster, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Merriam-Webster and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.