accelerator

American  

[ak-sel-uh-rey-ter] / ækˈsɛl əˌreɪ tər /

noun

1. a person or thing that accelerates.

2. Automotive. a device, usually operated by the foot, for controlling the speed of an engine.

3. British. any two- or three-wheeled motor vehicle, as a motorcycle or motor scooter.

4. Photography. a chemical, usually an alkali, added to a developer to increase the rate of development.

5. Also called accelerant.  Chemistry. any substance that increases the speed of a chemical change, as one that increases the rate of vulcanization of rubber or that hastens the setting of concrete, mortar, plaster, or the like.

6. Anatomy, Physiology. any muscle, nerve, or activating substance that quickens a movement.

7. Also called particle accelerator.  Also called atom smasher.  Physics. an electrostatic or electromagnetic device, as a cyclotron, that produces high-energy particles and focuses them on a target.

8. Economics. acceleration coefficient.

9. Business. an enterprise that provides investment funding and short, fixed-duration mentoring and education programs to a select group of startups that apply for this, including access to networking, strategy coaching, collaborative workspace, etc.

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accelerator British  

/ ækˈsɛləˌreɪtə /

noun

1. a device for increasing speed, esp a pedal for controlling the fuel intake in a motor vehicle; throttle

2. Also called (not in technical usage): atom smasher.  physics a machine for increasing the kinetic energy of subatomic particles or atomic nuclei and focusing them on a target

3. chem a substance that increases the speed of a chemical reaction, esp one that increases the rate of vulcanization of rubber, the rate of development in photography, the rate of setting of synthetic resins, or the rate of setting of concrete; catalyst

4. economics (in an economy) the relationship between the rate of change in output or sales and the consequent change in the level of investment

5. anatomy a muscle or nerve that increases the rate of a function

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Etymology

Origin of accelerator

First recorded in 1605–15 and in 1930–35 accelerator for def. 7; accelerate + -or ²

Explanation

An accelerator makes things go, or accelerate. The gas pedal on a car is an accelerator, but so is a machine that scientists use to speed particles up and smash them. An accelerator gets things going. In a car, the accelerator is the gas pedal that you mash with your foot when you’re ready to speed off into the sunset. In physics, a particle accelerator speeds off in a different way — it takes a particle, such as an electron, and speeds it up to almost the speed of light, and smashes it into an atom. Why? To see what it’s made of.

Example Sentences

That makes them about seven orders of magnitude, or 10 million times, more energetic than particles accelerated inside the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator.

From Science Daily • Jun. 9, 2026

“Our Smartstack platform is central to this new architecture, transforming the grid into an accelerator for compute,” Fluence Energy CEO Jeff Monday said in the media release.

From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026

An Australian accelerator, formed by Founders Factory and MSWA, will help healthcare startups advance technologies for neurological diseases.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026

Salesforce CRM -0.88%decrease; red down pointing triangle recorded higher profit and sales in the first quarter as it pushes its artificial intelligence tools as a growth accelerator.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

Colin pressed down hard on the accelerator, and he was thinking of all the places they might go, and all the days left in their summer.

From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green

Related Words

• particle accelerator