not so fast

Also found in: Acronyms.

not so fast

1. Literally, slow down; don't move or do something so quickly. OK, now just ease the car around this turn. Whoa, not so fast!

2. exclamation Stop right there! Don't move! Not so fast, Mark! I have a few things I need to discuss with you about your behavior in class before you leave.

not so ˈfast

(informal) often used for telling somebody who may have done something wrong, etc. to stop or wait: Not so fast, young man! Let me see your ticket! ♢ ‘I’m going out to play now, Dad.’ ‘Not so fast, David. You’ve got to tidy your room first.’

See also: fast, not

References in classic literature ?

Babble not so fast, man," quoth Umslopogaas, "or if you must babble, speak those words which you would say ere you bid the sun farewell.

View in context

He had no sooner given his father these raisins but I saw him come out of the boat, and run away as if he had been bewitched, for he was the swiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I say, he ran at such a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant; and though I called, and hallooed out too after him, it was all one - away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I saw him come back again, though not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer I found his pace slacker, because he had something in his hand.

View in context

So to a generation prepared to remember him solely as one of the best to ever lay hands on a basketball, Johnson says not so fast.

The Magic Touch!

Not so fast there, protests another group that has also looked at the lowest-branch question with a large set of data.

Lowering lilies on the tree of life

Well if you're African American and think it's on the 4th of July, not so fast.

Happy Juneteenth Day: African American 'holiday' may finally receive some national recognition