accelerate

verb

(transitive) To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of.

(intransitive) To become faster; to begin to move more quickly.

(transitive) To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of.

(transitive) To hasten, as the occurrence of an event.

(transitive, physics) To cause a change of velocity.

(transitive, education) To enable a student to finish a course of study in less than normal time.

(intransitive) Grow; increase.

adjective

(archaic) Accelerated; quickened; hastened; hurried.

Roots

celerceler- · Latin · swift

Synonyms for accelerate

quickenv speedv expeditev hastenv hasten hurryn intensifyv enhancev spurv precipitatev

Synonyms & related words for accelerate

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of accelerate — including quicken, speed, expedite, hasten, haste, hurry. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to accelerate

Explore words related to accelerate — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include acceleration, decelerate, speedup, faster, accelerative, sped, hastier, accelerator. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for accelerate

Common synonyms for accelerate include quicken, speed, expedite, hasten, haste, hurry, intensify, enhance — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does accelerate come from?

The word accelerate breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root celer-, from Latin celer (“swift”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.