acceleration

ac·cel·er·a·tion | \ ik-ˌse-lə-ˈrā-shən

How to pronounce acceleration (audio)

, (ˌ)ak-\

Definition of acceleration

1a : the act or process of moving faster or happening more quickly : the act or process of accelerating rapid acceleration the acceleration of economic growth

b : ability to accelerate a car with good acceleration

2 physics : the rate of change of velocity with respect to time broadly : change of velocity

Examples of acceleration in a Sentence

The car delivers quick acceleration. There has been some acceleration in economic growth. There has been an acceleration in economic growth.

Recent Examples on the Web Timefall is rainfall by way of chronological acceleration. — Wired, "Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding Is Beautiful, Smart—and Kinda Boring," 7 Nov. 2019 The problem with this type of particle acceleration in the past has been the natural tendency of plasma waves to spread out. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Scientists Are Trying To Shrink Particle Accelerators," 21 Oct. 2019 This sort of acceleration has been well documented in the firearms community, Helms said. — Fernando Alfonso Iii, CNN, "Some have started vape stockpiling in the US as a federal ban looms," 21 Sep. 2019 Researchers in Stockholm, Sweden have created the world's smallest accelerometer, which measures the force of acceleration, according to new research published in the scientific journal Nature Electronics. — Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, "The World's Smallest Accelerometer Could Transform Wearables," 3 Sep. 2019 An overboost function raises peak torque output to 202 lb.-ft. under maximum acceleration. — Sue Mead, Houston Chronicle, "Hyundai Veloster: Sporty compact curated with emotion, imagination," 13 Sep. 2019 Of course, the engine (or electric motor in the case of your Tesla) isn't the only thing that can be harmed by hard acceleration. — Ray Magliozzi, courant.com, "Car Talk: Put your Tesla to the test," 9 Sep. 2019 Most people prefer quiet and higher gas mileage to zippier acceleration. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Manual shifting of automatic brings more power, noise," 1 Sep. 2019 The matter also resurrects some of the issues of transparency on safety that Toyota encountered in 2009 over allegations that its vehicles were subject to sudden acceleration. — Los Angeles Times, "Toyota ordered to pay auto dealer $15.8 million in trial over Prius defects," 15 July 2019

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

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Learn More about acceleration

Dictionary Entries near acceleration

accelerated amortization

acceleration coefficient

acceleration lane

acceleration of gravity

Statistics for acceleration

Last Updated

13 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for acceleration

The first known use of acceleration was in the 15th century

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More Definitions for acceleration

acceleration

ac·cel·er·a·tion | \ ak-ˌse-lə-ˈrā-shən

\

Kids Definition of acceleration

: the act or process of speeding up

acceleration

ac·cel·er·a·tion | \ ik-ˌsel-ə-ˈrā-shən, (ˌ)ak-

\

Medical Definition of acceleration

1 : the act or process of accelerating : the state of being accelerated

2 : change of velocity also : the rate of this change

3 : advancement in mental growth or achievement beyond the average for one's age

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concealed or difficult to comprehend

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