accelerate

[ak-sel-uh-reyt] / ækˈsɛl əˌreɪt /

VERB

increase speed, timing

Synonyms

STRONGEST

advance expedite further hasten open up quicken spur step up stimulate

STRONG

drive dust forward gun hurry impel precipitate railroad rev roll tool

WEAK

fire up hammer on lay a patch lay rubber make tracks nail it peel rubber put on afterburners put pedal to metal rev up speed up step on the gas

Antonyms

STRONGEST

block cease check delay discourage halt hinder slow stop

STRONG

dissuade repress wait

WEAK

decelerate defer impede postpone retard slow down

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

According to the simulations, several processes worked together to accelerate Antarctic ice growth after the climate transition around one million years ago.

From Science Daily • May 29, 2026

Nomura says Beijing may still need to intensify property-sector clean up efforts and accelerate fiscal reforms to support weaker regions.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Schomburger’s experience as a consumer-products executive could help accelerate that progress.

From Barron's • May 28, 2026

Anthropic, which has seen growth accelerate at more than eight times the rapid rate it expected, faced a computing crunch that some users said caused outages or a degradation of its capabilities.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Roz walked down the aisle and stood in the last row, and the train started to accelerate.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

Vocabulary lists containing accelerate

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

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Holes

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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 2

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