Your foot presses down on the pedal and the car keeps getting faster — not fast, but faster, second by second. The key is that this word is about the change in speed, not the speed itself. Something already moving is now covering more ground each moment than it did the moment before.
From the word’s history
From Latin accelerare, from ad- "towards" + celer "swift" (the same celer behind celerity). Literally "to move towards swiftness" — not "to be swift", but to head in the direction of swiftness, which is exactly the getting-faster picture the modern word keeps.
來自拉丁文 accelerare，由 ad-（朝向）+ celer（快速的；celerity 同源）組成，字面是「朝快的方向去」。注意不是「快」，是「往快的方向移動」——這個 ad- 帶來的方向感，正好就是現代 accelerate 的核心：不是描述一個速度值，而是描述往上加的那個過程。
Wiktionary etymology tree supplied with this entry (Latin ad- + celer → accelerare)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料8 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
accelerateverb/əkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/
- 1
To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of.
- 2
To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of.
- to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc.
- The company plans to accelerate its growth with new marketing strategies.
- 3
natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsTo cause a change of velocity.
- 4
To hasten, as the occurrence of an event.
- to accelerate our departure
- 5
educationTo enable a student to finish a course of study in less than normal time.
- 6
To become faster; to begin to move more quickly.
- The car began to accelerate as soon as the light turned green.
- 7
Grow; increase.
accelerateadj/əkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/
- 1
archaicAccelerated; quickened; hastened; hurried.
- ... a general knowledg of the definition of motion, and of the distinction of natural and violent, even and accelerate, and the like, sufficing.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。