Origin: Latin suffix -ate
Accelerate has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of.
"The driver pressed the gas pedal to accelerate the car down the highway."
In plain English: To accelerate means to make something go faster or happen more quickly.
"The driver pressed the gas pedal to accelerate the car up the hill."
Usage: Use accelerate as an intransitive verb when describing something gaining speed on its own, such as a car speeding up without external force. Conversely, use it transitively with a direct object to indicate that you are actively causing another thing to move faster, like accelerating the pace of work.
Accelerated; quickened; hastened; hurried.
"The driver stepped on the gas to accelerate his car as he approached the green light."
"The accelerating pace of modern life makes it hard to relax."
The word "accelerate" emerged in the 1520s, likely derived from the Latin celer meaning "quick." It originally combined the prefix ad- with a root related to hastening to describe making something faster.