Haste means hurrying or rushing to do something quickly, often too quickly. When you act in haste, you're moving so fast that you might make mistakes or overlook important details. A student working in haste might skip reading the instructions carefully and answer the wrong questions on a test.

The word carries a warning: speed isn't always good. There's a famous old saying, “Haste makes waste,” which means rushing often leads to errors that create more work later. If you build a model airplane in haste, you might glue pieces incorrectly and have to take it apart and start over.

Haste is different from simply being quick or efficient. A chef works quickly but carefully in a busy kitchen. That's skill and practice, not haste. But if that same chef rushed through the work carelessly, that would be haste.

You'll often see haste paired with other words: someone might make a decision in haste and regret it later, or leave in great haste when they're running late. The related adjective is hasty, as in a hasty decision or a hasty retreat.