What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Swift vs Timely - What's the difference?

swift | timely |

As an initialism swift

is society for worldwide interbank financial telecommunication.

As an adjective timely is

done at the proper time.

As an adverb timely is

(archaic) in good time; early, quickly.

swift

English

Adjective

(er)
  • fast; quick; rapid.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=November 12 , author= , title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Spain were provoked into a response and Villa almost provided a swift equaliser when he rounded Hart but found the angle too acute and could only hit the side-netting.}}
  • Capable of moving at high speeds.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) The current of a stream.
  • A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight. Other common names for the birds of this family include swiftlet, needletail and spinetail.
  • Some lizards of the genus .
  • A moth of the family , (swift moth), ghost moth.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}

    Synonyms

    * (lizard) (fence lizard), (spiny lizard)

    Derived terms

    * (steam) swiftwater, * (bird) (common swift) () * (lizard) (fence swift) ()

    Derived terms

    * swiftly

    See also

    * (black martin) * (black swift) * (hawk swallow) * devil bird * devil screecher * (swingdevil) * (screech martin) * shriek owl * (chimney swallow) * (palm swift) * (tree swift) * (pine lizard)

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (obsolete, poetic) Swiftly.
  • * 1602 , , II. iii. 263:
  • Light boats sail swift , though greater hulks draw deep.
  • * 1793 ,
  • Ply swift and strong the oar.

    Synonyms

    * (l) ----

    timely

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Done at the proper time.
  • Happening or appearing at the proper time.
  • * Milton
  • The timely dew of sleep.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 20 , author=Jamie Lillywhite , title=Tottenham 1 - 0 Rubin Kazan , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=The athletic Walker, one of Tottenham's more effective attacking elements with his raids from right-back, made a timely intervention after Rose had been dispossessed and even Aaron Lennon was needed to provide an interception in the danger zone to foil another attempt by the Russians.}}
  • (obsolete) Keeping time or measure.
  • (Spenser)

    Synonyms

    * (done at the proper time ): well-timed * (happening or appearing at the proper time ): opportune, seasonable

    Antonyms

    * (done at the proper time ): badly timed, ill-timed * (happening or appearing at the proper time ): inopportune, unseasonable

    Derived terms

    * mistimely * overtimely * timelily * timeliness * timely-parted * untimely

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (archaic) In good time; early, quickly.
  • * 2000 , (George RR Martin), A Storm of Swords , Bantam 2011, p. 587:
  • ‘If I had been born more timely , he said, Rhaegar would have married me instead of Elia, and it would all have come out different.’
  • (obsolete) At the right time; seasonably.
  • * 1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica :
  • And this we shall more readily perform, if we timely survey our knowledge, impartially singling out those encroachments, which junior compliance and popular credulity hath admitted.

    See also

    * seasonably