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the act of ; increase of speed or velocity.
a change in velocity.
Mechanics. the time rate of change of velocity with respect to magnitude or direction; the derivative of velocity with respect to time.
Contemporary Examples

This leaves room for some acceleration of the pace of withdrawals, an option the White House is reported to be considering.
Obama’s Mission Impossible in Afghanistan After Soldier Shooting P.J. Crowley March 13, 2012

It has three sensors which track steps, acceleration, and altitude.
Can I Lose Weight Playing Video Games? Alec Kubas-Meyer January 13, 2014

Jones, the face of the burgeoning organization, has been taken aback by the acceleration of interest.
Sunday Assembly Is the Hot New Atheist Church Nico Hines September 20, 2013

All this is evidence of an acceleration of the impulse to demonize the duly elected president of the opposite party.
The Obama Haters Book Club John Avlon October 25, 2010

That return, and that acceleration, are not coincidences either.
Ukraine Is On the Verge Of War And Putin Is To Blame Michael Weiss February 19, 2014

Historical Examples

Its mean density is not very great so that the acceleration of gravity did not exceed one-two-thousandths of the earth’s.
Edison’s Conquest of Mars Garrett Putnam Serviss

You do not really employ that barbarous method of acceleration?
The Adventures of Harry Revel Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

Any unevenness in the acceleration and compression of the air produces drift.
The Aeroplane Speaks H. Barber

We’ll fall toward it and give the ship all the acceleration she’ll take.
Islands of Space John W Campbell

Collins yelled and cursed, he tried to pull off the acceleration webbing and claw through the airlock.
The Last Place on Earth James Judson Harmon

noun
the act of accelerating or the state of being accelerated
the rate of increase of speed or the rate of change of velocity a
the power to accelerate a
n.

1530s, from Latin accelerationem (nominative acceleratio) “a hastening,” noun of action from past participle stem of accelerare (see accelerate).
acceleration
(āk-sěl’ə-rā’shən)
The rate of change of the velocity of a moving body. An increase in the magnitude of the velocity of a moving body (an increase in speed) is called a positive acceleration; a decrease in speed is called a negative acceleration. Acceleration, like velocity, is a vector quantity, so any change in the direction of a moving body is also an acceleration. A moving body that follows a curved path, even when its speed remains constant, is undergoing acceleration. See more at gravity, relativity.

A change in the velocity of an object.

Note: The most familiar kind of acceleration is a change in the speed of an object. An object that stays at the same speed but changes direction, however, is also being accelerated. (See force.)