accelerated

1. 1
   adjective

   Happening, moving, or developing at a faster pace than usual.

   The startup followed an accelerated growth path during its first year.

   Doctors noted his accelerated breathing after the steep climb.

   Similarrapid, fast, swift, speedy

   Oppositeslow

   Note

   Education gives this adjective its most settled home: the accelerated course, which covers the usual ground in less time. Raymond Wlodkowski and Margery Ginsberg's Teaching Intensive and Accelerated Courses (2010) treats accelerated and intensive courses as related but separate kinds. The word is gradable, so a program can be more accelerated or the most accelerated of several.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of accelerate.

   The economy accelerated after the new policy took effect.

   The driver accelerated as soon as the road cleared.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty. It is the simple past (the car accelerated) and also the past participle after have or had (prices had accelerated). Because accelerate can take an object, the participle also forms passives: the schedule was accelerated, and a student can be accelerated through a course. From there it slides easily into the faster-than-usual adjective.

   The project was accelerated once the new funding arrived.

   She was accelerated through the program and graduated a year early.

3. 3
   adjective

   Happening sooner than expected.

   The court approved an accelerated hearing for the urgent case.

   Their accelerated timeline meant the building opened months early.

   Similarexpedited, early

   Oppositedelayed, postponed, deferred

   Note

   Here the speed has gone out of the word and only the calendar is left. An accelerated deadline, hearing or timeline is one moved earlier, not one that runs faster. David M. Walker, writing in 2006, uses it for a budget deadline set ahead of the statutory one. Keep it apart from the faster-than-usual sense: an accelerated course moves quickly, while an accelerated deadline simply arrives sooner.

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