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• pace
  pace

  noun

  a rate of movement, especially in stepping, walking, etc..
• PACE
  PACE

  acronym

  Police and Criminal Evidence Act

pace

¹ American  

[pays] / peɪs /

noun

• paces
  plural

1. 

   a rate of movement, especially in stepping, walking, etc..

   To raise your heart rate, walk at a brisk pace of five miles an hour.

2. a rate of activity, progress, growth, performance, etc.; tempo.

   The pace of the building's construction had slowed almost to a halt.

3. any of various standard linear measures, representing the space naturally measured by the movement of the feet in walking: roughly 30 to 40 inches (75 centimeters to 1 meter).

4. a single step.

   She took three paces in the direction of the door.

5. the distance covered in a step.

   Stand six paces inside the gates.

6. a manner of stepping; gait.

7. a gait of a horse or other animal in which the feet on the same side are lifted and put down together.

8. any of the gaits of a horse.

   Synonyms:

   single foot, run, walk, gallop, canter, jog, trot, rack, amble, step

9. a raised step or platform.

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verb (used with object)

• paces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• paced,
  past participle,  past
• pacing
  present participle

1. to set the rate of movement for, as in racing.

2. to traverse or go over with steps.

   He paced the floor nervously.

3. to measure by steps or by any of various standard linear measures representing the space naturally measured by the movement of the feet in walking.

4. to train to a certain pace; exercise in pacing.

   to pace a horse.

5. (of a horse) to run (a distance) at a pace.

   Hanover II paced a mile.

verb (used without object)

• paces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• paced,
  past participle,  past
• pacing
  present participle

1. to take slow, regular steps.

   Antonyms:

   skip, scamper, scurry

2. to walk up and down nervously, as to expend nervous energy.

3. (of a horse) to go at a pace.

idioms

1. set the pace, to act as an example for others to equal or rival; be the most progressive or successful.

   an agency that sets the pace in advertising.

2. put through one's paces, to cause someone to demonstrate their ability or to show their skill.

   The French teacher put her students through their paces for the visitors.

pace ² American  

[pay-see, pah-chay, pah-ke] / ˈpeɪ si, ˈpɑ tʃeɪ, ˈpɑ kɛ /

preposition

1. with all due respect to; with the permission of.

   I do not, pace my rival, hold with the ideas of the reactionists.

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pace ¹ British  

/ peɪs /

noun

1. 1. a single step in walking

   2. the distance covered by a step

2. a measure of length equal to the average length of a stride, approximately 3 feet See also Roman pace geometric pace military pace

3. speed of movement, esp of walking or running

4. rate or style of proceeding at some activity

   to live at a fast pace

5. manner or action of stepping, walking, etc; gait

6. any of the manners in which a horse or other quadruped walks or runs, the three principal paces being the walk, trot, and canter (or gallop)

7. a manner of moving, natural to the camel and sometimes developed in the horse, in which the two legs on the same side of the body are moved and put down at the same time

8. architect a step or small raised platform

9. to proceed at the same speed as

10. to test the ability of someone

11. to determine the rate at which a group runs or walks or proceeds at some other activity

12. to keep up with the speed or rate of others

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verb

1. (tr) to set or determine the pace for, as in a race

2. to walk with regular slow or fast paces, as in boredom, agitation, etc

   to pace the room

3. to measure by paces

   to pace out the distance

4. (intr) to walk with slow regular strides

   to pace along the street

5. (intr) (of a horse) to move at the pace (the specially developed gait)

PACE ² British  

/ peɪs /

acronym

1. Police and Criminal Evidence Act

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pace ³ British  

/ ˈpɑːkɛ, ˈpɑːtʃɛ /

preposition

1. with due deference to: used to acknowledge politely someone who disagrees with the speaker or writer

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pace More Idioms  

1. see change of pace; keep pace; put someone through his or her paces; set the pace; snail's pace.

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Synonym Usage

Pace, plod, trudge refer to a steady and monotonous kind of walking. Pace suggests steady, measured steps as of one completely lost in thought or impelled by some distraction: to pace up and down. Plod implies a slow, heavy, laborious, weary walk: The mailman plods his weary way. Trudge implies a spiritless but usually steady and doggedly persistent walk: The farmer trudged to his village to buy his supplies.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• paces
  plural

Participles

• pacing
  present
• paced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pace
  simple
• paces
  simple
• have paced
  perfect
• has paced
  perfect
• am pacing
  progressive
• are pacing
  progressive
• is pacing
  progressive
• have been pacing
  perfect progressive
• has been pacing
  perfect progressive

Past

• paced
  simple
• had paced
  perfect
• was pacing
  progressive
• were pacing
  progressive
• had been pacing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pace
  simple
• will have paced
  perfect
• will be pacing
  progressive
• will have been pacing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pace¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English pas, from Old French, from Latin passus “step, pace,” equivalent to pad-, variant stem of pandere “to spread (the legs, in walking)” + -tus suffix of verbal action, with dt becoming ss

Origin of pace²

First recorded in 1860–65; from Latin pāce “in peace, by favor” (ablative singular of pāx “favor, pardon, grace, peace ”

Explanation

Pace is how fast something travels a particular distance, like a runner who tries to achieve a consistent pace, running each mile in more or less the same amount of time. Pace comes from the Latin word passus, meaning “a step.” Pace is a noun, meaning "the speed at which something happens." Some say city life has a faster pace because everyone hurries and there are so many exciting things to do. Pace is also a verb — if you pace yourself, you’ll have enough energy to experience all of that city's sights, from the rush of rush hour to the late-night party scene.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pace PACE paces paced pacing

Both sides are attacking and defending communication signals on an unprecedented scale, innovating at pace, while the U.S. and other Western countries are working to catch up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

But keeping pace with the international boom has proven tricky for the archipelago nation's overwhelmingly smallholder farmers, with yields declining and some unable to commit to the plant's nine-month growing time.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

The truth is that Hamilton - and anyone else - will never know, because there was no direct comparison between his pace and Max Verstappen's in similar conditions.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

“Looking ahead, we are forecasting consumption growth to remain resilient, even if it slows from its strong pace of 0.4% in the second quarter,” Chambers added.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

The pace of life in New York was far busier than the slower tempo of Mount Vernon.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

Around 140 people show up to collect groceries on a typical Thursday evening and roughly 90% have jobs, said Jennifer Medeiros, food program coordinator at the nonprofit PACE, which runs the pantry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

This compares with 16% in 2018-19, according to state data analyzed by the nonpartisan research center PACE.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025

Losing the PACE, the analytics center, would also be a mistake, said Michael Horowitz, head of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 20, 2023

The group called PACE, which stands for Practical Actions for Climate and the Environment, organises litter picks with reusable sacks and has planted 300 trees in a community orchard.

From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2022

The scene of the IN PACE, for example, in spite of its strength, verges dangerously on the province of the penny novelist.

From Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson

Nvidia really stands out with sales and EPS expected to increase at annualized paces above 50% through 2028.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

That these customers could resist the urge to step a few paces outside to see the real thing still amazes me 55 years later.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

"As expected, we didn't detect gamma rays from Mars, but we put the instrument through its paces, and it performed excellently."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

The team plans to travel to Kenya next month to put the car through its paces.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

He jots down something in his notebook and paces away.

From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein

During an interview with a Wall Street Journal reporter in 1980, he quoted from a book on Zen Buddhism and paced around his office, squeezing a wrist exerciser.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Shirtless, he paced relentless circles on the blacktop.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

The pair crossed the line together with their arms around each other's shoulders after Pogacar paced a suffering Del Toro up the final climb.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Mr. Day’s lushly orchestrated score, sweetly tonal throughout and full of harp riffs, is paced with a mellow sameness that even the frequent big climaxes can’t jolt into dramatic excitement or dangerous energy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

No wonder William paced around at night, unable to sleep.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Other AI leaders have been somewhat resistant to that idea of broadly pacing work on AI.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Now at the start of a new NFL season at age 29, Barkley is pacing himself in his workouts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Torres-Pena was pacing the corridor believing he was about to leave, the inquest was told.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

There’s an understandable pacing dip afterward, when the wounded villagers think the nightmare is over and our protagonists learn separately that the forest holds more of these mysteriously strong creatures.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Major Tooth stops pacing and does a dead-on impression of Winston Churchill’s bulldog growl: “We shall never surrender!”

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• clip
• momentum
• progress
• rate
• time
• velocity