【Haste】 , 【hurry】 , 【speed】 , 【expedition】 , 【dispatch】 are comparable when meaning quickness or swiftness in movement or in action.
【Haste】 implies quickness or swiftness in persons rather than in machines, vehicles, or methods of transportation; thus, a business that requires 【haste】 demands that the persons concerned move or act swiftly. But 【haste】 may imply other goads than urgency or pressure for time; it may imply intense eagerness or lack of due reflection and precipitancy in decision or the impulsion of anger.
【Hurry】 , though often used in place of 【haste】 as the simpler term, distinctively carries a stronger implication of confusion, agitation, and bustle and more frequently refers to the things which are operated or the actions which are performed with 【haste】 than to the persons concerned; thus, one makes 【haste】 in the preparation of a report needed immediately, but the 【hurry】 of its preparation may result in several errors being overlooked. Also, 【hurry】 may imply the state of mind or the need of one who demands 【haste】 as well as of the one who makes 【haste】 .
【Speed】 (see also 【SPEED】 2 ) usually implies mere swiftness or rapidity, primarily in motion or movement but secondarily in action, performance, or accomplishment. Unlike 【haste】 and 【hurry】 , the term, which may be used in reference to things as well as to persons, carries no connotations of precipitancy, urgency, or agitation, although it may carry a suggestion of success.
【Expedition】 and 【dispatch】 imply both 【speed】 and efficiency especially in business or affairs, but 【dispatch】 carries a stronger suggestion of promptness in bringing matters to a conclusion, and 【expedition】 more often carries a hint of ease or efficiency of performance.
