accelerator

C2+ Topic:Tools, Machines & Construction

US /əkˈsɛləreɪtɚ/ UK /əkˈsɛləreɪtə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a device or thing that increases speed, especially a car's gas pedal

He pressed the accelerator and the car surged onto the highway.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a device or thing that... throttle catalystquickenerbooster

Opposites

brakedeceleratorretarder

Word family

Related forms accelerate accelerationaccelerative

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

proton accelerator
a machine that raises protons to high speeds for particle experiments

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Latin accelerāre ('to hasten') + -tor (agent suffix), from ad- ('to') + celer ('swift').

accelerāre Latin celer Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Tools, Machines & Construction Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# accelerator

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əkˈsɛləreɪtɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /əkˈsɛləreɪtə/

## Meanings
1. a device or thing that increases speed, especially a car's gas pedal

## Examples
- He pressed the accelerator and the car surged onto the highway.

## Synonyms
- throttle
- catalyst
- quickener
- booster

## Antonyms
- brake
- decelerator
- retarder

## Related Forms
- accelerate
- acceleration
- accelerative

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: accelerāre
- Root: celer

## Etymology
From Latin accelerāre ('to hasten') + -tor (agent suffix), from ad- ('to') + celer ('swift').

## AI Etymology
accelerator comes from Latin accelerāre ('to hasten') + -tor (agent suffix), from ad- ('to') + celer ('swift'). Morphologically, the word is transparent: -tor is attached to the older base named in the history, so the modern form packages an inherited or borrowed stem inside a later English derivative. In modern use, the noun sense is "a device or thing that increases speed, especially a car's gas pedal", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as accelerate, acceleration, accelerative, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Latin accelerāre, Latin celer, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Tools, Machines & Construction
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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