accelerate

[ak-sel-uh-reyt] /ækˈsɛl əˌreɪt/
verb (used with object), accelerated, accelerating.
1.
to cause faster or greater activity, development, progress, advancement, etc., in:
to accelerate economic growth.
2.
to hasten the occurrence of:
to accelerate the fall of a government.
3.
Mechanics. to change the velocity of (a body) or the rate of (motion); cause to undergo acceleration.
4.
to reduce the time required for (a course of study) by intensifying the work, eliminating detail, etc.
verb (used without object), accelerated, accelerating.
5.
to move or go faster; increase in speed.
6.
to progress or develop faster.
Origin
1515-25; < Latin accelerātus speeded up (past participle of accelerāre), equivalent to ac- ac- + celer swift + -ātus -ate1
Related forms
accelerable, adjective
acceleratedly, adverb
overaccelerate, verb, overaccelerated, overaccelerating.
reaccelerate, verb, reaccelerated, reaccelerating.
self-accelerating, adjective
unaccelerated, adjective
Examples from the web for accelerate
  • accelerate gently to get your wheels moving again and increase traction.
  • In theory such a craft could accelerate to a sizable fraction of the speed of light-without carrying fuel.
  • The hadron collider will accelerate protons to almost the speed of light and then collide them.
  • However, it is impossible to accelerate anything to a speed faster than light because you would need an infinite amount of energy.
  • Lean forward to accelerate forward and lean back to slow down and stop.
  • The speed of melting, accelerate, as the blackness add to the speed-up.
  • And if food access were not a problem, if it were solved, the dramatic increase in fed people would accelerate that timer.
  • It only moves because of its inertia but it has to accelerate to orbital speed, and therefore fly, before it becomes a satellite.
  • Fibbing causes the heart to pound, breathing to accelerate and sweating to increase, and the polygraph measures all those things.
  • Even if job growth were to accelerate sharply in coming months, the economy would be years away from so-called full employment.
British Dictionary definitions for accelerate

accelerate

/ækˈsɛləˌreɪt/
verb
1.
to go, occur, or cause to go or occur more quickly; speed up
2.
(transitive) to cause to happen sooner than expected
3.
(transitive) to increase the velocity of (a body, reaction, etc); cause acceleration
Derived Forms
accelerable, adjective
accelerative, acceleratory, adjective
Word Origin
C16: from Latin accelerātus, from accelerāre to go faster, from ad- (intensive) + celerāre to hasten, from celer swift
Word Origin and History for accelerate
v.

1520s, from Latin acceleratus, past participle of accelerare "to hasten, to quicken," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + celerare "hasten," from celer "swift" (see celerity). Related: Accelerated; accelerating.