velocity

American  

[vuh-los-i-tee] / vəˈlɒs ɪ ti /

noun

• velocities
  plural

1. rapidity of motion or operation; swiftness; speed.

   a high wind velocity.

2. Mechanics. the time rate of change of position of a body in a specified direction.

3. the rate of speed with which something happens; rapidity of action or reaction.

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velocity British  

/ vɪˈlɒsɪtɪ /

noun

1. speed of motion, action, or operation; rapidity; swiftness

2. u, v, w. physics a measure of the rate of motion of a body expressed as the rate of change of its position in a particular direction with time. It is measured in metres per second, miles per hour, etc

3. physics (not in technical usage) another word for speed

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velocity Scientific  

/ və-lŏs′ĭ-tē /

1. The speed and direction of motion of a moving body. Velocity is a vector quantity.

2. Compare acceleration speed

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velocity Cultural  

1. The vector giving the speed and direction of motion of any object.

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Synonym Usage

See speed.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• velocities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of velocity

First recorded in 1540–50, velocity is from the Latin word vēlōcitās speed. See velocipede, -ty ²

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Explanation

If your rocket is traveling at maximum velocity, it means it can't go any faster. Velocity is quickness of motion or action. A synonym is celerity; a simpler word is speed. In physics, velocity specifically refers to the measurement of the rate and direction of change in position of an object. It is a vector quantity that specifies both the speed of a body and its direction of motion. The noun velocity descends from Middle English velocite, from Old French, from Latin vēlōcitās, from vēlōx "fast."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

velocity velocities

With an exit velocity of 113.1 mph, it was his hardest-hit home run since June 20 and his third-hardest hit of the year, according to Statcast.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

By the third inning, Misiorowski’s fastball velocity, which touched 104 mph, had dropped to double digits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Sorkin’s film highlights the conflict between slow-moving reporting and the light-speed pace of modern culture, a velocity enhanced by the very tech the film has in its crosshairs.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

High-speed cameras help track exit velocity, swing angle, bat speed, “how often they are on the barrel and how often they make good swing decisions,” Jacob said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Pauli’s exclusion principle says that two similar particles cannot exist in the same state; that is, they cannot have both the same position and the same velocity, within the limits given by the uncertainty principle.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

A leaderboard on the wall of Chapman Baseball Compound, a 17,500-square-foot facility in Irvine, Calif., lists the top pitching velocities for 10-year-olds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

In an era where velocities are climbing across the game, the 24-year-old Misiorowski is pushing the limits of what was believed to be possible from the human body.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

The system learned from detailed computer simulations of ocean circulation, which linked specific temperature patterns to known water velocities.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2026

"These theories assume that one is describing something with well-defined velocities and energies," explains Diana Kirschbaum.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 15, 2026

When the ship reaches relativistic velocities, the hydrogen atoms will be moving with respect to the spaceship at close to the speed of light.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

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Related Words

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