ACCELERATION

acceleration, quickening, speedup

(noun) the act of accelerating; increasing the speed

acceleration

(noun) an increase in rate of change; “modern science caused an acceleration of cultural change”

acceleration

(noun) (physics) a rate of increase of velocity

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

acceleration (countable and uncountable, plural accelerations)

(uncountable) The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as opposed to retardation or deceleration.

(countable) The amount by which a speed or velocity increases (and so a scalar quantity or a vector quantity).

• Isaac Taylor

(physics) The change of velocity with respect to time (can include deceleration or changing direction).

The advancement of students at a rate that places them ahead of where they would be in the regular school curriculum.

Usage notes

Acceleration in SI units is measured in metres per second per second (m/s2), or in imperial units in feet per second per second (ft/s2).

Antonyms

• (act or state, amount): deceleration, retardation

Source: Wiktionary


Ac*cel`er*a"tion, n. Etym: [L. acceleratio: cf. F. accélération.]

Definition: The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as, a falling body moves toward the earth with an acceleration of velocity; -- opposed to retardation. A period of social improvement, or of intellectual advancement, contains within itself a principle of acceleration. I. Taylor. (Astr. & Physics.) Acceleration of the moon, the increase of the moon's mean motion in its orbit, in consequence of which its period of revolution is now shorter than in ancient times.

– Acceleration and retardation of the tides. See Priming of the tides, under Priming.

– Diurnal acceleration of the fixed stars, the amount by which their apparent diurnal motion exceeds that of the sun, in consequence of which they daily come to the meridian of any place about three minutes fifty-six seconds of solar time earlier than on the day preceding.

– Acceleration of the planets, the increasing velocity of their motion, in proceeding from the apogee to the perigee of their orbits.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

21 December 2024

COYOTE

(noun) a forest fire fighter who is sent to battle remote and severe forest fires (often for days at a time)


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.

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