Accelerate
adj, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of. transitive
- 2 move faster wordnet
- 3 To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of. transitive
"to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc."
- 4 cause to move faster wordnet
- 5 To cause a change of velocity. transitive
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To hasten, as the occurrence of an event. transitive
"to accelerate our departure"
- 7 To enable a student to finish a course of study in less than normal time. transitive
- 8 To become faster; to begin to move more quickly. intransitive
"The car began to accelerate as soon as the light turned green."
- 9 Grow; increase. intransitive
- 1 Accelerated; quickened; hastened; hurried. archaic, not-comparable
"... a general knowledg of the definition of motion, and of the distinction of natural and violent, even and accelerate, and the like, sufficing."
Example
More examples"The policy will only accelerate inflation."
Etymology
First attested in the 1520s. Either from Latin accelerātus, perfect passive participle of accelerō (“to accelerate, hasten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), formed from ad + celerō (“to hasten”), which is from celer (“quick”) (see celerity), or back-formation from acceleration.
Related phrases
More for "accelerate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.