acceleration

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
acceleration
    n 1: an increase in rate of change; "modern science caused an
         acceleration of cultural change" [ant: {deceleration},
         {retardation}, {slowing}]
    2: the act of accelerating; increasing the speed [syn:
       {acceleration}, {quickening}, {speedup}] [ant:
       {deceleration}]
    3: (physics) a rate of increase of velocity [ant:
       {deceleration}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Acceleration \Ac*cel`er*a"tion\, n. [L. acceleratio: cf. F.
   acc['e]l['e]ration.]
   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}.
   [1913 Webster]

         A period of social improvement, or of intellectual
         advancement, contains within itself a principle of
         acceleration.                            --I. Taylor.
   [1913 Webster] (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.
      [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
40 Moby Thesaurus words for "acceleration":
      accelerando, aggravation, beefing-up, blowing up, blowup,
      concentration, condensation, consolidation, deepening, double time,
      double-quick, double-quick time, drive, enhancement, exacerbation,
      exaggeration, explosion, festination, forced march, forwarding,
      getaway, hastening, heating-up, heightening, hurrying, impetus,
      information explosion, intensification, magnification, pickup,
      population explosion, quickening, redoubling, reinforcement,
      speeding, speedup, step-up, strengthening, thrust, tightening

    

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