accelerate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
accelerates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
accelerated,
past participle, past
-
accelerating
present participle
-
to cause faster or greater activity, development, progress, advancement, etc., in.
to accelerate economic growth.
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to hasten the occurrence of.
to accelerate the fall of a government.
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Mechanics. to change the velocity of (a body) or the rate of (motion); cause to undergo acceleration.
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to reduce the time required for (a course of study) by intensifying the work, eliminating detail, etc.
verb (used without object)
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accelerates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
accelerated,
past participle, past
-
accelerating
present participle
-
to move or go faster; increase in speed.
-
to progress or develop faster.
verb
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to go, occur, or cause to go or occur more quickly; speed up
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(tr) to cause to happen sooner than expected
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(tr) to increase the velocity of (a body, reaction, etc); cause acceleration
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overaccelerateverb
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reaccelerateverb
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accelerableadjective
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accelerativeadjective
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self-acceleratingadjective
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unacceleratedadjective
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acceleratedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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acceleratesimple
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acceleratessimple
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have acceleratedperfect
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has acceleratedperfect
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am acceleratingprogressive
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are acceleratingprogressive
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is acceleratingprogressive
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have been acceleratingperfect progressive
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has been acceleratingperfect progressive
Past
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acceleratedsimple
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had acceleratedperfect
-
was acceleratingprogressive
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were acceleratingprogressive
-
had been acceleratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of accelerate
First recorded in 1515–25; from Latin accelerātus “sped up,” past participle of accelerāre “to speed up,” from ac- ac- + celerāre “to hasten, hurry” (from celer “swift”)
Explanation
Accelerate means to speed up. A car accelerates when you step on the gas. You can accelerate the process of getting a visa if you happen to know someone who works in the consulate. The fastest Amtrak trains are called the Acela line, a made-up word intended to suggest accelerate and therefore communicate that these trains are fast. If you are standing close to one when it zooms by, you may find yourself having an accelerated heart rate — they move pretty fast!
Vocabulary lists containing accelerate
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Holes
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Tapping the red “override” button let the Lexus accelerate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
By studying a much larger group of patients, they hope to uncover more of the rare genetic changes capable of producing aggressive cancer and accelerate the development of personalized treatments.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
Benefit costs, especially health-insurance plans, will accelerate meaningfully next year, Moody said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
She said the attack would likely accelerate scrutiny of how the sector protects both its infrastructure and its customers.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Thirty miles per hour. And since we don’t have much of a runway, we’ll need to accelerate quickly. Once we get down there, you’ll want to turn left.”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
As this technology accelerates its own evolution, the risk is that we struggle to keep pace and keep it under control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
As AI use accelerates, construction of power-hungry data centres is booming worldwide, especially in Asia.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
A catalyst is a substance that accelerates a chemical reaction without being permanently changed in the process, Stylianou said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Fast, accurate feedback accelerates innovation by quantifying what does and doesn’t work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
My pulse accelerates to the beat of her unsteady heart rhythm and the slow chugging of her blood moving through her veins.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Growth in export orders slowed among consumer and intermediate goods makers but accelerated for investment goods firms, he added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
A selloff in artificial-intelligence stocks accelerated after a fresh batch of quarterly results rocked market confidence, as investors seeking a safe place to park their cash pushed Treasury yields to multiweek lows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Global warming has accelerated sharply over the past decade, with Earth heating up faster than at any point since modern temperature records began in 1880.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
From the end of 2020 prosecutions under the law restarted and accelerated.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
He accelerated away and cruised under the wire all alone, breaking the track record.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
The Taiwan-born businessman has advocated for the use of his company's chips in China, where Beijing has been accelerating development of its own semiconductors.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
The U.S. economy is accelerating, gathering enough momentum from the artificial intelligence boom and robust consumer spending to crash through wars, volatile markets and trade disruptions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Countries have recognised the main barrier to accelerating those efforts is money.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Headline and core inflation have exceeded the central bank’s forecasts, while accelerating wages and higher energy and food prices point to further price pressures, ING analysts said in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
As delicately as he could, he shifted gears again, accelerating as they approached a hill in the road.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
