decelerate

American  

[dee-sel-uh-reyt] / diˈsɛl əˌreɪt /

Also deaccelerate

verb (used with object)

decelerates, present (3rd person singular) decelerated, past participle, past decelerating present participle

1. to decrease the velocity of.

   He decelerates the bobsled when he nears a curve.

2. to slow the rate of increase of.

   efforts to decelerate inflation.

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verb (used without object)

decelerates, present (3rd person singular) decelerated, past participle, past decelerating present participle

1. to slow down.

   The plane decelerated just before landing.

decelerate British  

/ diːˈsɛləˌreɪt /

verb

1. to slow down or cause to slow down

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• deceleration
  noun
• decelerator
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• decelerating
  present
• decelerated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• decelerate
  simple
• decelerates
  simple
• have decelerated
  perfect
• has decelerated
  perfect
• am decelerating
  progressive
• are decelerating
  progressive
• is decelerating
  progressive
• have been decelerating
  perfect progressive
• has been decelerating
  perfect progressive

Past

• decelerated
  simple
• had decelerated
  perfect
• was decelerating
  progressive
• were decelerating
  progressive
• had been decelerating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will decelerate
  simple
• will have decelerated
  perfect
• will be decelerating
  progressive
• will have been decelerating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of decelerate

First recorded in 1895–1900; de- + (ac)celerate

Explanation

Use the verb decelerate when you want to slow down, like when you realize you are missing important moments in life by racing around, trying to do everything yourself. If you make an effort to decelerate, you might be happier — and healthier. Decelerate is the opposite of accelerate, which means "to go faster." Decelerate often describes slowing a vehicle, but it can relate to nearly anything, like a friendship that begins with hanging out nearly every day but decelerates when you move to a new town or get busy with school and sports. It doesn't mean the friendship is ending or over, just that the pace is now a little slower.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

decelerate decelerates decelerated decelerating

They deliver powerful bursts of thrust that allow spacecraft to quickly accelerate, decelerate, climb, descend, or change position.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026

Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth was encouraged by Meta’s increased advertising revenue, although he expects sales growth to decelerate throughout the year and sees a more “challenging” path to returns outside of advertising.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026

"You just decelerate so much before corners," Norris said.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026

Shelter costs for Canadians continue to decelerate, rising 1.7% for the latest month, marking the first time in almost five years shelter expenses have advanced by less than 2%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026

In Darwin's scheme, the rate of change of an organism was generally fixed, while the rate of natural selection could be amplified to accelerate evolution or dampened to decelerate it.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

It decelerates the vehicle from about 350 miles per hour to about 17 miles per hour for a nice soft landing for the crew in the Pacific Ocean.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

Analysts at Bank of America expect the BOC will resume cutting interest rates in April and June as core inflation decelerates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

“It could just be the de-ce. I don’t know,” Redick said, alluding to the way Doncic decelerates with the ball in his hands.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

To reduce the risks of a possible Fed easing in case the economy decelerates, Winthrop's Coons said he is using the inverted yield curve to run a barbell duration strategy.

From Reuters ● Sep. 25, 2023

As Violet drives up, the world decelerates, and tiny details come into sharp focus.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

Growth in cloud applications decelerated by 2 percentage points on a sequential basis, to 9%, “keeping the SaaSpocalypse theory alive,” according to Thill.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026

China’s consumer spending growth decelerated to its weakest pace since 2022 in April, while industrial output, investment and the real-estate sector all continued to deteriorate, falling short of economists’ expectations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

Furthermore, core prices have decelerated and the economy is operating with spare capacity, which should put a limit on price increases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Annual sales growth has decelerated over the past five years through 2025, and is expected to slow further this year, leaving it less room to fend off threats like X Money.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026

First, we descended from Hermes, and decelerated our orbital velocity so we could start falling properly.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Declining oil prices are likely to send the main PCE index decelerating to around 3.5% by year-end, top Fed officials and Wall Street economists predict.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

On a monthly basis, headline CPI fell 0.1% in May, decelerating from a 0.3% rise in April.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

He said AI capital spending — with the four major hyperscalers looking to spend $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year — is actually accelerating, not decelerating.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026

Investors separately might be picking up on a decelerating growth trend.

From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026

I, on the other hand, power walked even during my leisure hours and had a hard time decelerating.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama