What does accelerate mean?
Accelerate is a verb meaning to move, happen, or progress faster, whether by one's own motion or through external action. A car accelerates when its driver presses the pedal; a government may accelerate reforms; a disease can accelerate its spread. In physics the word carries a stricter sense: any change in an object's velocity over time counts as acceleration, even a decrease. Derived from the Latin 'accelerare', built on 'celer' meaning swift, the word entered English in the early seventeenth century and has since become indispensable in discussions of speed, progress, and urgency. It pairs naturally with nouns like growth, pace, decline, and change, and it often appears in scientific, economic, and technological writing. Its derivatives — acceleration, accelerator, accelerated — extend its reach into engineering, chemistry, and computing, making it one of the most versatile verbs in modern English.
verbTo move or happen faster, or to cause something to do so; in physics, to undergo an increase in velocity over time.
- To increase in speed or rate of movement.
- To cause something to happen sooner or progress more quickly.
- (Physics) To undergo a change in velocity over time.
"The government introduced new measures to accelerate economic growth."
"The car accelerated smoothly as it merged onto the motorway."
"Digital technology has accelerated the pace of change across nearly every industry."
The same Latin root that gives us 'accelerate' also gives us 'celerity' — and the word 'celery', named for its famously fast-growing stalks.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of accelerate
Accelerate comes from the Latin verb 'accelerare', formed from the intensive prefix 'ad-' plus 'celerare', meaning to hasten, itself derived from 'celer', swift. The word entered English in the early seventeenth century, initially carrying the general sense of hastening or quickening. Its relatives include 'celerity' (swiftness) and, more distantly, words borrowed from the same Latin root such as 'accelerando', the musical direction to gradually speed up.
Related word forms
How accelerate is actually used
Standard in both formal and everyday registers. In physics contexts it has the precise technical meaning of any change in velocity, including slowing down (negative acceleration), which differs from everyday usage where it implies speeding up. The intransitive use ('the car accelerated') is more common than the transitive one ('they accelerated the process'), though both are fully standard.
Easily confused with accelerate
Exacerbate means to make a problem worse, while accelerate simply means to make something faster — you can exacerbate a crisis without anything speeding up.