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Synonyms

accelerate

American

[ak-sel-uh-reyt] / ækˈsɛl əˌreɪt /

verb (used with object)

to cause faster or greater activity, development, progress, advancement, etc., in.

to accelerate economic growth.
to hasten the occurrence of.

to accelerate the fall of a government.
Mechanics. to change the velocity of (a body) or the rate of (motion); cause to undergo acceleration.
to reduce the time required for (a course of study) by intensifying the work, eliminating detail, etc.

verb (used without object)

to move or go faster; increase in speed.
to progress or develop faster.

accelerate British

/ ækˈsɛləˌreɪt /

verb

to go, occur, or cause to go or occur more quickly; speed up
(tr) to cause to happen sooner than expected
(tr) to increase the velocity of (a body, reaction, etc); cause acceleration

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of accelerate

First recorded in 1515–25; from Latin accelerātus “sped up,” past participle of accelerāre “to speed up,” from ac- ac- + celerāre “to hasten, hurry” (from celer “swift”)

Explanation

Accelerate means to speed up. A car accelerates when you step on the gas. You can accelerate the process of getting a visa if you happen to know someone who works in the consulate. The fastest Amtrak trains are called the Acela line, a made-up word intended to suggest accelerate and therefore communicate that these trains are fast. If you are standing close to one when it zooms by, you may find yourself having an accelerated heart rate — they move pretty fast!

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Vocabulary lists containing accelerate

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

accelerate accelerates accelerated accelerating

“Demand continues to accelerate, and the group is adjusting capacity accordingly,” Reid says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

The two "agreed to accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, bolster cooperation in combined logistics, and build greater interoperability through joint exercises," the Pentagon said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

"The question is whether we can accelerate use of it so that we pay for the transition."

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

In a news release, Faraday Future said it would seize the opportunity created by the new policy and accelerate its “Built in USA” and “Assembled in USA” programs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Roz walked down the aisle and stood in the last row, and the train started to accelerate.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

“As AI demand accelerates, data center infrastructure will require advances in both computing and connectivity to deliver greater performance with more efficiency,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in a statement.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Finding ways to make computing more energy efficient is therefore becoming increasingly important as demand for digital services accelerates.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026

The deal accelerates Nvidia’s push to promote open-weight AI models and services that challenge both proprietary models from big U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

But the prospect also carries environmental risks if increased traffic accelerates Arctic melting, with soot emissions that settle on the ice cap trapping heat from sunlight.

From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026

“Sorry!” she calls as she accelerates, as if the other driver can hear.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

The institutional moves presaged a broader ad-market pullback that accelerated Trade Desk’s stock-price decline throughout 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Guimaraes' former Newcastle team-mate Sandro Tonali and Bournemouth's Alex Scott were also among the midfielders explored before a move for the South American accelerated.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Bookings for NetSuite, the company’s enterprise resource-planning software, accelerated at the end of the fourth quarter, and Cerner, Oracle’s system for electronic health records, is “returning to growth,” he wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

Scientists are examining possible warning signs, including evidence that the glacier accelerated in the weeks before the collapse, and a sudden increase in meltwater shortly beforehand.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

Quixote landed with a screeching meow and a thud, Dad accelerated up the road, and I burst into tears.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

While the exact cause of the glacial collapse is unclear, climate change is accelerating glacial melt worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Malaysia’s economy expanded 6.0% from a year earlier in the second quarter, accelerating from 5.4% in the first quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The obvious objection is that cloud revenue is accelerating, rather than shrinking.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

The French semiconductor-materials maker upgraded its guidance due to accelerating demand for its Photonics-SOI products used in data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Welles had manipulated the audience’s perception of time by dragging out the carprogram’s beginning and then accelerating once the newsflashes started.

From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023