deceleration

[dee-sel-uh-rey-shuhn]

noun

1. the fact of losing speed, or the act of reducing the speed of something.

   Prolonged deceleration of the fetal heart rate is cause for concern.

2. the act or process of slowing the rate of increase of something.

   During that quarter, job creation stalled and stocks fell, confirming that there was a deceleration in the economy.

Other Word Forms

• nondeceleration noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deceleration¹

deceler(ate) ( def. ) + -ation ( def. )

Example Sentences

“Really, remarkably, there’s no deceleration at all in the year-on-year between October and September in our data.”

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“While our data suggests the labor market has cooled over recent months, there was no sign of a further deceleration in October,” the Bank of America Institute said.

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“It’s really a function of our growth expectations for our GLP-1 franchise in diabetes and obesity. And based on that runway, we expect continued deceleration into the fourth quarter.”

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Management, like in 2024, indicated at least some of the growth deceleration would come from a more macroeconomic concern, not its own missteps.

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The U.K. economy returned to slow growth in the latest August figures, albeit recording a sharp deceleration from the start of the year, ahead of U.S. tariffs on goods that crimped exports.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• decline 
• delay 
• downtrend 
• downturn 
• drop 
• drop-off 
• falloff 
• slackening www.thesaurus.com
• stagnation 
• strike 

When To Use

What does deceleration mean?

Deceleration describes a decrease in velocity, that is, momentum.Deceleration describes the slowing of an increase. Wind, for example, moves with a certain amount of momentum. When the wind’s momentum slows down, that is, the wind doesn’t blow as hard, we can say that the wind is experiencing deceleration.Example: The deceleration of the ship came abruptly to the passengers.