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

The rate of inflation would probably have to decelerate to under 3%, but it might not reach that goal before year end.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

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

From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 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

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

Cloud revenue growth decelerates to 22% from 24.5% in the first quarter.

From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025

"The markets are in wait-and-see mode," Goldberg added, as traders assess whether the economy decelerates further or in fact proves to be more resilient than the Fed would like to see.

From Reuters ● Nov. 6, 2023

The low hum of a centrifuge decelerates until it stops.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

And it does seem like a steep sentence, for contact that wasn’t even given a yellow card at first, and which, when decelerated in granular slow-mo, looks worse than it actually was.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Headline annual inflation is expected to have decelerated in June to 3.0% from 3.2% previously, according to The Wall Street Journal’s poll of analysts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

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

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

As the spaceship decelerated and pulled out of its orbit, heading down, down, down, it passed through several minutes of communications blackout.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

The study directly responds to research from a South Korean team that claimed the universe may have entered a period of decelerating expansion.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026

By measuring how strongly the expansion was decelerating, researchers hoped to determine how much matter was actually out there.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 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

Recent data, however, only shows “stabilization,” he said, pointing to decelerating wage growth, eroding real incomes and ongoing inflation pressures as factors likely to weigh on growth and drive Treasury yields lower.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026

Because of this, horses must be brought down from exercise gradually, slowly decelerating over about a half mile after a race and then undergoing a long walk.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand