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Definition of accelerate verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

accelerate

verb
 
/əkˈseləreɪt/
 
/əkˈseləreɪt/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they accelerate
 
/əkˈseləreɪt/
 
/əkˈseləreɪt/
he / she / it accelerates
 
/əkˈseləreɪts/
 
/əkˈseləreɪts/
past simple accelerated
 
/əkˈseləreɪtɪd/
 
/əkˈseləreɪtɪd/
past participle accelerated
 
/əkˈseləreɪtɪd/
 
/əkˈseləreɪtɪd/
-ing form accelerating
 
/əkˈseləreɪtɪŋ/
 
/əkˈseləreɪtɪŋ/
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  1. [intransitive, transitive] to happen faster or earlier; to make something happen faster or earlier
    • Inflation continues to accelerate.
    • accelerate something Exposure to the sun can accelerate the ageing process.
    Extra Examples
    • Government policy has greatly accelerated the decline of the small farmer.
    • Population growth accelerated only after 1750.
    • The epidemic is accelerating dramatically.
    • The pace of change has begun to accelerate.
    • factors which may accelerate inflation
    • rapidly accelerating social change
    • Environmental factors can accelerate the development of certain cancers.
    • He vowed to intensify efforts to accelerate the structural reform of the economy.
    Topics Change, cause and effectc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • dramatically
    • greatly
    • rapidly
    See full entry
  2. [intransitive] (of a vehicle or person) to start to go faster
    • The runners accelerated smoothly around the bend.
    • The car accelerated to overtake me.
    • The car purred into life and accelerated away.
    opposite decelerateTopics Physics and chemistryc1, Transport by car or lorryc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • hard
    • quickly
    • smoothly
    See full entry
  3. Word Originearly 16th cent. (in the sense to make something happen faster): from Latin accelerat- ‘hastened’, from the verb accelerare, from ad- ‘towards’ + celer ‘swift’.
See accelerate in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee accelerate in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
nibble
noun
 
 
From the Topic
Cooking and eating
C2
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