accelerate

verb ac·cel·er·ate \ -lə-ˌrāt \

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

Definition of accelerate

accelerated; accelerating

intransitive verb

1 : to move faster : to gain speed

The car slowly accelerated.

The pace of change has accelerated in recent months.

2 : to progress from grade to grade more rapidly than usual : to follow a speeded-up educational program

transitive verb

1 : to bring about at an earlier time

Circumstances accelerated their departure.

2 : to cause to move faster

accelerated his steps

; also : to cause to undergo acceleration

3 a : to hasten the progress or development of

accelerate our efforts

b : increase

accelerate food production

4 a : to enable (a student) to complete a course in less than usual time

b : to speed up (something, such as a course of study)

See accelerate defined for English-language learners

See accelerate defined for kids

Examples of accelerate in a Sentence

She stepped on the gas and the car accelerated.
The plane accelerated down the runway.
She stepped on the gas and accelerated the car.
He says that cutting taxes will help to accelerate economic growth.
The rate of economic growth has continued to accelerate.

Recent Examples of accelerate from the Web

The result effectively kills off any lingering hopes that the club could finish amongst the Champions League places, and will only accelerate reports that Conte will leave at the end of the season.

— SI.com, "Antonio Conte Admits He's 'Bored' of Complaining About 'Wasteful' Chelsea Following West Ham Draw," 9 Apr. 2018
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde recently reiterated the group’s January forecast that global economic growth will accelerate in 2018 to its fastest pace in seven years.

— amrith ramkumar, WSJ, "Copper’s Hot Run Falters in 2018," 1 Apr. 2018
Sales of electric vehicles are growing rapidly, up 26 percent last year even as overall vehicle sales slipped 1.8 percent, and some see a looming tipping point where demand will accelerate even more.

— colin campbell, baltimoresun.com, "Maryland's utilities propose spending $104 million on statewide electric-vehicle charging network," 26 Mar. 2018
But ten years later, international inspectors discovered after the Persian Gulf War that Hussein had accelerated his nuclear program by taking it completely underground to undeclared sites.

— eric cortellessa, The New Republic, "Will Trump Be the President Who Gives Iran the Bomb?," 24 Mar. 2018
Cuba, who is also a central bank director, said that economic growth should accelerate each quarter this year.

— john quigley, Bloomberg.com, "Peru’s New Leader Has a Mandate to Fix a Poisoned Political Climate," 23 Mar. 2018
And while that was a huge milestone for the industry, 2017's 16.5 percent lift means that business is accelerating even further and faster.

— dan rys, Billboard, "The Future of Downloads, Accelerating Growth & Vinyl Vinyl Vinyl: 5 Takeaways From the RIAA Year-End Report," 22 Mar. 2018
The surge of job gains may reflect, in part, confidence among some businesses that the Trump administration’s tax cuts will accelerate growth.

— christopher rugaber, BostonGlobe.com, "Hiring bump adds 313,000 jobs in February," 9 Mar. 2018
And now that his sister Tori has been killed because of Black Lightning, the war waged between the two superpowered men will accelerate in the second half of the season.

— sydney bucksbaum, The Hollywood Reporter, "DC TV Watch: Cress Williams Breaks Down All Those 'Black Lightning' Deaths," 9 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'accelerate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of accelerate

borrowed from Latin accelerātus, past participle of accelerāre "to add speed to, hasten the occurrence of, go quickly," from ad- ad- + celerāre "to hasten," verbal derivative of celer "swift, speedy," perhaps going back to *keli-li-/ri-, derivative from the Indo-European base of Greek kélomai, kelésthai "urge, exhort," kelēt-, kélēs "swift horse, charger"

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1522

See Words from the same year