apace

Word family

• pace
  nounB1
• pace
  verbB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

Apace is the most formal and literary of these four speed adverbs. Rapidly is the neutral default for academic and news writing ('the economy grew rapidly'). Swiftly overlaps with rapidly but carries a slight connotation of smoothness or grace ('she swiftly corrected the error'). Briskly suggests energetic efficiency and is common with walking pace or business activity ('trade resumed briskly'). Apace adds a sense of steady, large-scale forward movement — it is rarely used for a single person's action and almost always describes projects, change, time, or spread ('work proceeded apace'; 'the rumor spread apace'). For everyday physical speed, use quickly or fast. For formal writing about ongoing processes, rapidly and swiftly are safer choices; apace gives a more old-fashioned, emphatic tone.

Common collocations

Etymology

From Middle English 'a pace', literally meaning 'at a (good) pace'. The phrase became a single adverb in the 1500s when 'a' (a reduced form of the Old English preposition 'on/at') fused with 'pace' (from Latin 'passus' = step). The original idea was 'at a walking step', which gradually strengthened to 'at a fast speed' by the 17th century.