"slow is smooth, smooth is fast" meaning in English

See slow is smooth, smooth is fast in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: From marksmanship, where firing too quickly may lead to decreased accuracy. Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} slow is smooth, smooth is fast
  1. Approaching difficult situations slowly and methodically can lead to faster and more efficient outcomes.
    Sense id: en-slow_is_smooth,_smooth_is_fast-en-proverb-vCK9rnSN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "etymology_text": "From marksmanship, where firing too quickly may lead to decreased accuracy.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "slow is smooth, smooth is fast",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              132,
              162
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 May 2, Jack Coughlin, Casey Kuhlman, Donald A. Davis, Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper, Macmillan Publishers, →ISBN, page 132:",
          "text": "Since bullets follow walls, we kept about three feet away from the sandy buildings and moved very deliberately. Not fast, but safe. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              107,
              137
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014 October 14, Weston Ochse, Reign of Evil: A SEAL Team 666 Novel, Macmillan Publishers, →ISBN, page 63:",
          "text": "He slowed to a walk, keeping his aim steady as he pulled the trigger with metronomic regularity. The words slow is smooth; smooth is fast ran through his mind as he found a stair down to lane level and moved into lane seventeen.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              169,
              199
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2015 July 15, Nate Ostis, NOLS River Rescue Guide, Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 38:",
          "text": "If you rush through your steps in the pursuit of efficiency, you waste time if the proper sequence is lost. Splint the leg first, then transport back to the river bank. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Approaching difficult situations slowly and methodically can lead to faster and more efficient outcomes."
      ],
      "id": "en-slow_is_smooth,_smooth_is_fast-en-proverb-vCK9rnSN",
      "links": [
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "slow",
          "slow"
        ],
        [
          "methodical",
          "methodical"
        ],
        [
          "fast",
          "fast"
        ],
        [
          "efficient",
          "efficient"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "slow is smooth, smooth is fast"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From marksmanship, where firing too quickly may lead to decreased accuracy.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "slow is smooth, smooth is fast",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English military slang",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              132,
              162
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 May 2, Jack Coughlin, Casey Kuhlman, Donald A. Davis, Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper, Macmillan Publishers, →ISBN, page 132:",
          "text": "Since bullets follow walls, we kept about three feet away from the sandy buildings and moved very deliberately. Not fast, but safe. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              107,
              137
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014 October 14, Weston Ochse, Reign of Evil: A SEAL Team 666 Novel, Macmillan Publishers, →ISBN, page 63:",
          "text": "He slowed to a walk, keeping his aim steady as he pulled the trigger with metronomic regularity. The words slow is smooth; smooth is fast ran through his mind as he found a stair down to lane level and moved into lane seventeen.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              169,
              199
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2015 July 15, Nate Ostis, NOLS River Rescue Guide, Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 38:",
          "text": "If you rush through your steps in the pursuit of efficiency, you waste time if the proper sequence is lost. Splint the leg first, then transport back to the river bank. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Approaching difficult situations slowly and methodically can lead to faster and more efficient outcomes."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "slow",
          "slow"
        ],
        [
          "methodical",
          "methodical"
        ],
        [
          "fast",
          "fast"
        ],
        [
          "efficient",
          "efficient"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "slow is smooth, smooth is fast"
}

Download raw JSONL data for slow is smooth, smooth is fast meaning in English (2.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-02 using wiktextract (7cef23e and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.