acceleration

noun

ac·​cel·​er·​a·​tion ik-ˌse-lə-ˈrā-shən 

(ˌ)ak-

1

a

: the act or process of moving faster or happening more quickly : the act or process of accelerating

rapid acceleration

the acceleration of economic growth

b

: ability to accelerate

a car with good acceleration

2

physics : the rate of change of velocity with respect to time

broadly : change of velocity

Examples of acceleration in a Sentence

The car delivers quick acceleration.

There has been some acceleration in economic growth.

There has been an acceleration in economic growth.

Recent Examples on the Web

The 0-to-60 miles per hour acceleration standard is achieved in 5.8 seconds. —James Raia, The Mercury News, 4 June 2024

When later recombined, the interference patterns of the multiple wave packets are studied to discover even the most minuscule accelerations—tinier than conventional accelerometers could measure—to the wave packets’ positions in three-dimensional space. —IEEE Spectrum, 3 June 2024

Since NPUs are currently at the ~40 TOPS performance mark and Nvidia’s PC GPUs can handle more than 1,000 TOPS for AI acceleration, there are clearly some big differences in performance for developers to think about here. —Tom Warren, The Verge, 2 June 2024

Yet these changes, although understandable, are accelerations, not shifts. —Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 7 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French acceleratiun, borrowed from Latin accelerātiōn-, accelerātiō, from accelerāre "to accelerate" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of action nouns

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing acceleration

• acceleration of gravity
• acceleration principle
• angular acceleration

Kids Definition

acceleration

noun

ac·​cel·​er·​a·​tion ik-ˌsel-ə-ˈrā-shən 

ak-

1

: the act or process of accelerating : the state of being accelerated

2

: the rate of change of velocity with respect to time

also : change in velocity

Medical Definition

acceleration

noun

ac·​cel·​er·​a·​tion ik-ˌsel-ə-ˈrā-shən, (ˌ)ak- 

1

: the act or process of accelerating : the state of being accelerated

2

: change of velocity

also : the rate of this change

3

: advancement in mental growth or achievement beyond the average for one's age