acceleration

American  

[ak-sel-uh-ray-shuhn, ik-] / ækˌsɛl əˈreɪ ʃən, ɪk- /

noun

• accelerations
  plural

1. the act of accelerating; increase of speed or velocity.

2. a change in velocity.

3. Mechanics. the time rate of change of velocity with respect to magnitude or direction; the derivative of velocity with respect to time.

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acceleration British  

/ ækˌsɛləˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of accelerating or the state of being accelerated

2. a. the rate of increase of speed or the rate of change of velocity

3. a. the power to accelerate

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acceleration Scientific  

/ ăk-sĕl′ə-rā′shən /

1. The rate of change of the velocity of a moving body. An increase in the magnitude of the velocity of a moving body (an increase in speed) is called a positive acceleration; a decrease in speed is called a negative acceleration. Acceleration, like velocity, is a vector quantity, so any change in the direction of a moving body is also an acceleration. A moving body that follows a curved path, even when its speed remains constant, is undergoing acceleration.

2. See more at gravity relativity

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acceleration Cultural  

1. A change in the velocity of an object.

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Discover More

The most familiar kind of acceleration is a change in the speed of an object. An object that stays at the same speed but changes direction, however, is also being accelerated. (See force.)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonacceleration
  noun
• overacceleration
  noun
• reacceleration
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• accelerations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acceleration

First recorded in 1525–35, acceleration is from the Latin word accelerātiōn- (stem of accelerātiō ). See accelerate, -ion

Explanation

Acceleration is the act of increasing speed. When you buy a sports car, you want one that has great acceleration, so it can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in no time. Acceleration comes from the Latin word accelerationem, which means "a hastening." When you hasten, you hurry, so acceleration is a speeding-up. Maybe you are walking to an appointment and realize you will be late. You pick up your pace — that's acceleration. If the rain on a stormy day begins to come down faster, that too is acceleration. As you can see, acceleration isn't just for cars.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acceleration accelerations

Volkswagen-owned Bentley last month unveiled its first EV, touting the $230,000 car’s acceleration from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 2.9 seconds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Edmonds, of EVA England, says developments in electric vehicle design have made them better at moderating the acceleration so they don't gain speed as rapidly.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Consumer spending snapped back in August after a brief lull, adding to mounting evidence of an acceleration in the U.S. economy despite a series of strains.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

But the acceleration didn’t work, and the Sparks finished with the second-worst defense in the WNBA.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

She lay holding on to Roger on the floor of the basket, pressed down by the acceleration.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

Across the past six seasons, STATSports - a sports technology company Kane has invested in - found his distance covered, high-speed running and accelerations were up 8%, 22% and 42% respectively.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Similar surveys pointed to accelerations in India, Japan and Australia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

On a Thursday morning in June for example, the car had been driven 7.33 miles in 18 minutes; there had been two rapid accelerations and two incidents of hard braking.

From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2024

Inertial measurement unit data is processed to determine hard braking, hard accelerations and hard turns and GPS data.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 29, 2024

Under extremely strong gravitational accelerations, even light is affected.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan