Adjacent Words

Accelerate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ACCEL'ERATE, v.t. [L. accelero, of ad and celero, to hasten, from celer, quick.
1. To cause to move faster; to hasten; to quicken motion; to add to the velocity of a moving body. It implies previous motion or progression.
2. To add to natural or ordinary progression; as to accelerate the growth of a plant, or the progress of knowledge.
3. To bring nearer in time; to shorten the time between the present time and a future event; as to accelerate the ruin of a government; to accelerate a battle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: move faster; "The car accelerated" [syn: accelerate, speed up, speed, quicken] [ant: decelerate, retard, slow, slow down, slow up]
2: cause to move faster; "He accelerated the car" [syn: accelerate, speed, speed up] [ant: decelerate, slow down]

Merriam Webster's

verb (-ated; -ating) Etymology: Latin acceleratus, past participle of accelerare, from ad- + celer swift — more at hold Date: circa 1530 transitive verb 1. to bring about at an earlier time <accelerate their departure> 2. to cause to move faster <accelerated his steps>; also to cause to undergo acceleration 3. a. to hasten the progress or development of <accelerate our efforts> b. increase <accelerate food production> 4. a. to enable (a student) to complete a course in less than usual time b. to speed up (as a course of study) intransitive verb 1. a. to move faster ; gain speed <the car slowly accelerated> b. grow, increase <inflation was accelerating> 2. to follow an accelerated educational program • acceleratingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 intr. a (of a moving body, esp. a vehicle) move or begin to move more quickly; increase speed. b (of a process) happen or reach completion more quickly. 2 tr. a cause to increase speed. b cause (a process) to happen more quickly. Etymology: L accelerare (as AC-, celerare f. celer swift)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Accelerate Ac*cel"er*ate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Accelerated; p. pr. & vb. n. Accelerating.] [L. acceleratus, p. p. of accelerare; ad + celerare to hasten; celer quick. See Celerity.] 1. To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of; -- opposed to retard. 2. To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of; as, to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc. 3. To hasten, as the occurence of an event; as, to accelerate our departure. Accelerated motion (Mech.), motion with a continually increasing velocity. Accelerating force, the force which causes accelerated motion. --Nichol. Syn: To hasten; expedite; quicken; dispatch; forward; advance; further.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(accelerates, accelerating, accelerated) 1. If the process or rate of something accelerates or if something accelerates it, it gets faster and faster. Growth will accelerate to 2.9 per cent next year... The government is to accelerate its privatisation programme. VERB: V, V n 2. When a moving vehicle accelerates, it goes faster and faster. Suddenly the car accelerated... She accelerated away from the kerb. VERB: V, V prep/adv

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Hasten, expedite, hurry, quicken, speed, precipitate, despatch, urge forward, push forward, push on, press on, urge on.

Moby Thesaurus

activate, aggravate, atomize, beef up, blow up, bombard, bundle, bustle, cleave, complicate, concentrate, condense, consolidate, crack on, cross-bombard, crowd, deepen, dispatch, double, drive, drive on, enhance, exacerbate, exaggerate, expedite, fission, forward, gain ground, get going, haste, hasten, hasten on, heat up, heighten, hie on, hop up, hot up, hurry, hurry along, hurry on, hurry up, hustle, hustle up, impel, intensify, jazz up, key up, magnify, make complex, nucleize, open the throttle, pick up speed, precipitate, press, push, push on, push through, put on, put on steam, quicken, race, railroad through, ramify, redouble, reinforce, rev, rush, rush along, shake up, sharpen, smash the atom, soup up, speed, speed along, speed up, spur, stampede, step on it, step up, strengthen, triple, urge, whet, whip, whip along