Fast vs. Fasting — What's the Difference?

Acting, moving, or capable of acting or moving quickly; swift.

Fasting is the willful refrainment from eating and sometimes drinking (see Water fasting and Juice fasting). From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see the "break fast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after complete digestion and absorption of a meal.

Accomplished in relatively little time

To abstain from food.

Acquired quickly with little effort and sometimes unscrupulously

To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.

Quick to understand or learn; mentally agile

The act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food.

Indicating a time somewhat ahead of the actual time

A period of such abstention or self-denial.

Allowing rapid movement or action

Abstinence or mortification for religious reasons, especially abstinence from food.

Designed for or compatible with a short exposure time

Abstinence from food, limiting caloric intake, for medical or health reasons, dieting.

Disposed to dissipation; wild

Abstaining from food

Flouting conventional moral standards; sexually promiscuous.

Resistant, as to destruction or fading

Firmly fixed or fastened

Fixed firmly in place; secure

Lasting; permanent

Deep; sound

In a secure manner; tightly

To a sound degree; deeply

In a rapid manner; quickly.

In quick succession

Ahead of the correct or expected time

In a dissipated, immoderate way

(Archaic) Close by; near.

To abstain from food.

To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.

The act or practice of abstaining from or eating very little food.

A period of such abstention or self-denial.

(dated) Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.

Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.

(of people) Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)

Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid.

Having a kinetic energy between 1 million and 20 million electron volts; often used to describe the energy state of free neutrons at the moment of their release by a nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reaction (i.e., before the neutrons have been slowed down by anything).

Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.

Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.

Able to transfer data in a short period of time.

Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).

(of dyes or colours) Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent.

(obsolete) Tenacious; retentive.

(dated) Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.

Ahead of the correct time or schedule.

(of photographic film) More sensitive to light than average.

In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound .

(of sleeping) Deeply or soundly .

Immediately following in place or time; close, very near .

Quickly, with great speed; within a short time .

Ahead of the correct time or schedule.

A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations

The act or practice of fasting, religious abstinence from food

One of the fasting periods in the liturgical year

(archery) Short for "stand fast", a warning not to pass between the arrow and the target

(intransitive) To practice religious abstinence, especially from food.

To reduce or limit one's nutrition intake for medical or health reasons, to diet.

To abstain from food; to omit to take nourishment in whole or in part; to go hungry.

To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, or humiliation and penitence.

Abstinence from food; omission to take nourishment.

Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious humiliation.

A time of fasting, whether a day, week, or longer time; a period of abstinence from food or certain kinds of food; as, an annual fast.

That which fastens or holds; especially, (Naut.) a mooring rope, hawser, or chain; - called, according to its position, a bow, head, quarter, breast, or stern fast; also, a post on a pier around which hawsers are passed in mooring.

Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the door.

Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.

Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.

Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.

Tenacious; retentive.

Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.

Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast horse.

Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint; reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a fast liver.

In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table, etc.

In a fast, fixed, or firmly established manner; fixedly; firmly; immovably.

In a fast or rapid manner; quickly; swiftly; extravagantly; wildly; as, to run fast; to live fast.

Abstaining from food

Abstain from certain foods, as for religious or medical reasons;

Abstain from eating;

Acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly;

(used of timepieces) indicating a time ahead of or later than the correct time;

At a rapid tempo;

(of surfaces) conducive to rapid speeds;

Firmly fastened or secured against opening;

Resistant to destruction or fading;

Unrestrained by convention or morality;

Hurried and brief;

Securely fixed in place;

Unwavering in devotion to friend or vow or cause;

Quickly or rapidly (often used as a combining form);

Firmly or tightly;