Accelerant
//əkˈsɛləɹ(ə)nt// adj, noun
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any substance that can bond or mix with, or disturb, another substance and cause an increase in the speed of a natural or artificial chemical process.; In the context of fire protection, a substance that accelerates the development of a fire, especially some hydrocarbon-based fuel used to spread a fire caused by arson.
"Accelerant was poured across the beds where the two daughters of a family in Cheshire, Conn., had been tied before a fire during a home invasion in 2007, a fire investigator told jurors on Friday."
- 2 Any substance that can bond or mix with, or disturb, another substance and cause an increase in the speed of a natural or artificial chemical process.; A substance used to catalyze the vulcanization of rubber.
- 3 Something that speeds up a process or the uptake of something else. figuratively
"Hello Neighbor’s experience reflects the rise of video sites like YouTube as an accelerant for the video game business."
Adjective
- 1 Causing acceleration or speeding up; accelerating.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The police were able to determine that an accelerant was used in the fire."
Etymology
From accelerate + -ant (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs, or forming adjectives with senses of being prone or tending to do the actions of verbs).
More for "accelerant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.