Definition of escape velocity
: the minimum velocity that a moving body (such as a rocket) must have to escape from the gravitational field of a celestial body (such as the earth) and move outward into space
Examples of escape velocity in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Many Americans began to hope that the country had enough escape velocity to exit its cycle of missteps and sickness.
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Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 12 Aug. 2021
In 2008, things like biofuels and even a lot of the solar industry and aspects of wind were simply not cost effective or technologically advanced enough to reach escape velocity.
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Brendan Doherty, Forbes, 25 May 2021
Lee spent much of his career trying to achieve escape velocity from the business that made him, writing books and movie scripts that never coalesced, pitching film projects that fizzled.
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Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 18 Feb. 2021
To achieve Earth-escape velocity, a second firing will end about 53 minutes after liftoff, after which the spacecraft will be released on its journey to Mars.
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Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 30 July 2020
Two Centaur firings were required to boost the Perseverance rover and its planetary cruise stage to an Earth-escape velocity of about 26,000 mph.
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William Harwood, CBS News, 30 July 2020
Younger kids can match pictures of celestial objects, and older kids and adults can learn facts about space, like the escape velocity of the earth.
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Popular Science, 27 Mar. 2020
Its shares achieved escape velocity earlier this week thanks to the Wuhan coronavirus contagion that’s going global.
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Bernhard Warner, Fortune, 29 Jan. 2020
What the company needs, though, is escape velocity.
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Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'escape velocity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Last Updated
24 Aug 2021
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Cite this Entry
“Escape velocity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/escape%20velocity. Accessed 15 Oct. 2021.
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The first known use of escape velocity was in 1934
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