acceleration
The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as opposed to retardation or deceleration.
Example
“A falling body moves toward the earth with an acceleration of velocity.”
Other meanings
The amount by which a speed or velocity increases (and so a scalar quantity or a vector quantity).
“The boosters produce an acceleration of 20 metres per second per second.”
The change of velocity with respect to time (can include deceleration or changing direction).
Related words
- accelerational
- antiacceleration
- microacceleration
- nonacceleration
- overacceleration
- postacceleration
- reacceleration
- underacceleration
- acceleration clause
- centripetal acceleration
- acceleration of freefall
- accelerationism
Word history
From Latin "accelerātiō" (a hastening, acceleration).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “acceleration” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.