ac·cel·er·ate

(ăk-sĕl′ə-rāt′)

v. ac·cel·er·at·ed, ac·cel·er·at·ing, ac·cel·er·ates

v.tr.

a. To increase the speed of: accelerated the engine. See Synonyms at speed.

b. Physics To change the velocity of.

2. To cause to occur sooner than expected: accelerated his retirement by a year.

3. To cause to develop or progress more quickly: a substance used to accelerate a fire.

a. To reduce the time required for (an academic course, for example); compress into a shorter period.

b. To make it possible for (a student) to finish an academic course faster than usual.

v.intr.

To move or act faster.

[Latin accelerāre, accelerāt- : ad-, intensive pref.; see ad- + celerāre, to quicken (from celer, swift).]

ac·cel′er·a′tive adj.

ac·cel′er·a·to′ry (-ər-ə-tôr′ē) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

accelerated - speeded up, as of an academic course; "in an accelerated program in school"

fast - acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly; "fast film"; "on the fast track in school"; "set a fast pace"; "a fast car"

Translations

acelerado

accelerata accelerato

acelerado

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

This center, formed of indefinite molecules, began to revolve around its own axis during its gradual condensation; then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in proportion as its bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion became accelerated, and these two effects continuing, the result was the formation of one principal star, the center of the nebulous mass.

By attentively watching, the observer would then have perceived the other molecules of the mass, following the example of this central star, become likewise condensed by gradually accelerated rotation, and gravitating round it in the shape of innumerable stars.

This motion, faithful to the laws of mechanics, would have been accelerated with the diminution of its volume; and a moment would have arrived when the centrifugal force would have overpowered the centripetal, which causes the molecules all to tend toward the center.

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It enjoins him to be careful, and cut his work into as thin slices as possible, inasmuch as by so doing the business of boiling out the oil is much accelerated, and its quantity considerably increased, besides perhaps improving it in quality.

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My violent struggles had only accelerated my already dangerously accelerated heart, and increased the need for oxygen in my suffocating lungs.

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Nature's Law prescribes two antagonistic decrees affecting Circular propagation; first, that as the race climbs higher in the scale of development, so development shall proceed at an accelerated pace; second, that in the same proportion, the race shall become less fertile.

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An invariably favorable wind had accelerated the progress of the Resolute toward the place of her destination.

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Lenotre had hastened the pleasure of the Maecenas of his period; all the nursery- grounds had furnished trees whose growth had been accelerated by careful culture and the richest plant-food.

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The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin.

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But she was such a sheaf of susceptibilities that her pulse was accelerated by the touch, her blood driven to her finder-ends, and the cool arms flushed hot.

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However, the movement of the bass was accelerated, and, in proportion as it described a wider angle, Quasimodo's eye opened also more and more widely, phosphoric and flaming.

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"Accelerated Math"[TM], published by Renaissance Learning, is a software tool used to customize assignments and monitor progress in math for students in grades 1-12.

Accelerated Math[TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report