Meaning of word speed

Last Updated:
10 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

speed

 (spēd)

n.

1. Physics The rate or a measure of the rate of motion, especially:

a. Distance traveled divided by the time of travel.

b. The limit of this quotient as the time of travel becomes vanishingly small; the first derivative of distance with respect to time.

c. The magnitude of a velocity.

2. Swiftness of action: He wrote the first chapter with great speed.

3.

a. The act of moving rapidly: finished the race in a burst of speed.

b. The state of being in rapid motion; rapidity: The river’s speed made a rescue difficult.

4. A transmission gear or set of gears in a motor vehicle: What speed is the car in now?

5.

a. A numerical expression of the sensitivity of a photographic film, plate, or paper to light.

b. The capacity of a lens to accumulate light at an appropriate aperture.

c. The length of time required or permitted for a camera shutter to open and admit light.

6. Slang A stimulant drug, especially amphetamine or methamphetamine.

7. Slang One that suits or appeals to a person’s inclinations, skills, or character: Living in a large city is not my speed.

8. Archaic Prosperity; luck.

v. sped (spĕd) or speed·ed, speed·ing, speeds

v.intr.

1.

a. To go, move, or proceed quickly: sped to the rescue.

b. To drive at a speed exceeding a legal limit: was speeding on the freeway.

2. To pass quickly: The days sped by. The months have sped along.

3. To move, work, or happen at a faster rate; accelerate: His pulse speeded up.

4. Slang To be under the influence of a stimulant drug.

5. Archaic

a. To prove successful; prosper.

b. To get along in a specified manner; fare.

v.tr.

1. To cause to move or proceed quickly; hasten: no wind to speed the boat.

2. To increase the speed or rate of; accelerate. Often used with up: speed up a car; sped up production.

3. To further, promote, or expedite (a legal action, for example).

4. Archaic To help to succeed or prosper; aid.

Idioms:

at speed

At high speed: added a spoiler to the car to reduce lift when operating at speed.

up to speed

1. Operating at maximum speed. Producing something or performing at an acceptable rate or level.

2. Informal Fully informed; conversant: I’m not up to speed on these issues yet.

---

[Middle English spede, from Old English spēd, success, swiftness; see spē- in Indo-European roots.]

Synonyms: speed, hurry, hasten, quicken, accelerate
These verbs mean to proceed or cause to proceed rapidly or more rapidly. Speed refers to swift motion or action: The train sped through the countryside. Postal workers labored overtime to speed delivery of the holiday mail. Hurry implies a markedly faster rate than usual, often with concomitant confusion or commotion: Hurry, or you’ll miss the plane! Don’t let anyone hurry you into making a decision. Hasten suggests urgency and often eager or rash swiftness: My doctor hastened to reassure me that the tests were negative. His off-color jokes only hastened his dismissal. Quicken and especially accelerate refer to increase in rate of activity, growth, or progress: The skater’s breathing quickened as he neared the end of his routine. The runner quickened her pace as she drew near the finish line. The economic expansion has continued but is no longer accelerating. Heat greatly accelerates the deterioration of perishable foods. See Also Synonyms at haste.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

speed

(spiːd)

n

1. the act or quality of acting or moving fast; rapidity

2. the rate at which something moves, is done, or acts

3. (General Physics) physics a scalar measure of the rate of movement of a body expressed either as the distance travelled divided by the time taken (average speed) or the rate of change of position with respect to time at a particular point (instantaneous speed). It is measured in metres per second, miles per hour, etc

4. (Mechanical Engineering) a rate of rotation, usually expressed in revolutions per unit time

5. (Mechanical Engineering)

a. a gear ratio in a motor vehicle, bicycle, etc

b. (in combination): a three-speed gear.

6. (Photography) photog a numerical expression of the sensitivity to light of a particular type of film, paper, or plate. See also ISO rating

7. (Photography) photog a measure of the ability of a lens to pass light from an object to the image position, determined by the aperture and also the transmitting power of the lens. It increases as the f-number is decreased and vice versa

8. (Recreational Drugs) a slang word for amphetamine

9. archaic prosperity or success

10. at speed quickly

11. up to speed

a. operating at an acceptable or competitive level

b. in possession of all the relevant or necessary information

vb, speeds, speeding, sped or speeded

12. to move or go or cause to move or go quickly

13. (Law) (intr) to drive (a motor vehicle) at a high speed, esp above legal limits

14. (Automotive Engineering) (intr) to drive (a motor vehicle) at a high speed, esp above legal limits

15. (tr) to help further the success or completion of

16. (Recreational Drugs) (intr) slang to take or be under the influence of amphetamines

17. (Mechanical Engineering) (intr) to operate or run at a high speed

18. archaic

a. (intr) to prosper or succeed

b. (tr) to wish success to

[Old English spēd (originally in the sense: success); related to spōwan to succeed, Latin spēs hope, Old Slavonic spěti to be lucky]

ˈspeeder n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

speed

(spid)

n., v. sped speed•ed, speed•ing. n.

1. rapidity in moving, traveling, performing, etc.; swiftness.

2. relative rate of motion or progress: the speed of light.

3. a gear ratio in a motor vehicle or bicycle.

4.

a. the sensitivity of a photographic film or paper to light.

b. the length of time a shutter is opened to expose film.

c. the largest opening at which a lens can be used.

5. Slang. a stimulating drug, esp. methamphetamine or amphetamine.

6. a person, thing, activity, etc., that suits one’s ability, inclinations, or personality: Quiet, easygoing people are more my speed.

7. Archaic. success or prosperity.

v.t.

8. to promote the success of; further, forward, or expedite.

9. to direct (the course, way, etc.) with speed.

10. to increase the rate of speed of (usu. fol. by up): to speed up production.

11. to cause to move or go with speed.

12. Archaic. to cause to succeed or prosper.

v.i.

13. to go or proceed with rapidity.

14. to drive a vehicle at a rate that exceeds the legal limit.

15. to increase the rate of speed (usu. fol. by up).

16. to get on or fare in a specified or particular manner.

17. Archaic. to succeed or prosper.

Idioms:

1. at full or top speed,

a. at the greatest speed possible.

b. to the maximum of one’s capabilities.

2. up to speed,

a. operating at full or optimum speed.

b. functioning at an anticipated or competitive level: a new firm not yet up to speed.

[before 900; (n.) Middle English spede good luck, prosperity, rapidity, Old English spēd, c. Old Saxon spōd, Old High German spuot]

speed′er, n.

syn: speed, velocity, celerity refer to swift or energetic movement or operation. speed may apply to human or nonhuman activity; it emphasizes the rate in time at which something travels or operates: the speed of an automobile; the speed of thought. velocity, a more technical term, is commonly used to refer to high rates of speed: the velocity of a projectile. celerity, a somewhat literary term, usu. refers to human movement or operation, and emphasizes dispatch or economy in an activity: the celerity of his response.

Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Speed

 

See Also: RUNNING

1. (Poems have become) as instant as coffee or onion soup mix —Donald Hall
2. (They’ll whip her back … ) as quick as shit through a goose —Derek Lambert
3. As swift as meditation, or the thoughts of love —William Shakespeare
4. As swiftly as a reach of still water is crisped by the wind —Rudyard Kipling
5. Be not in a hurry, like the almond, first to blossom and last to ripen. Be rather like the mulberry, last to blossom and first to ripen —The Holy Bible/Apocrypha
6. The crowd was moving fast … like a big spread ravelling, and the separate threads disappeared down the dark street —Flannery O’Connor
7. Drive [a car] like the hounds of hell —Rosamund Pilcher
8. Fast as a bird on the wing —Anon
9. Fast as a cat scurrying up a tree at the approach of a strange dog —Anon
10. Fast as a cook cracks eggs —Thomas Nash
11. Fast as a heartbeat —John D. MacDonald
12. Fast as a jet —Mark Helprin
13. Fast as a pickpocket —Anon
14. Fast as a propeller —Bertold Brecht
15. (Scrambles into the room,) fast as a spider —Robert Silverberg
16. Fast as greased lightning —American colloquialism
17. Fast as the blink of an eye —Anon
18. Fast-moving as the gray fox that climbs trees after squirrels —Marge Piercy
19. (Little and) fleet as a terrier running beside a bloodhound —Erich Maria Remarque
20. (To vanish,) fleet as days and months and years, fleet as the generations of mankind —William Wordsworth
21. Flying like ice in a sleet storm —Ben Ames Williams
22. Fly like a donkey with pepper up its behind —Aharon Megged
23. Galloped through [religious mass] like a man with witches after him —Edith Wharton
24. Goes like a ship-lash flicked across a horse’s neck —Rudyard Kipling
25. Going like flames —Samuel Beckett
26. Going like sixty —F. D. Reeve
27. Go like a house afire —Anon

    One of many “Go like” similes that have worked their way into the American language mainstream since the late 1830s. Some other examples: “Go like a shot,” “Go like hell” and “Go like mad.”

28. Go through like a dose of salts —American colloquialism

    While purgative salts are pretty much a thing of the past, the simile endures as a way to describe a very rapid pace. With the penchant for brand names, “Go through like Ex-Lax” has become a common alternative.

29. Go through them [reading materials] like a kid through potato chips —James Crumley
30. He rushed past her like a football tackle —James Thurber
31. (Wedding plans were) hurtling along like a train on tracks —Paul Reidinger
32. Insectlike swiftness —Saul Bellow
33. It must be done like lightning —Ben Jonson
34. Just a glance, like passing your eyes over the spines of books without being able to read the title … that quick —Arthur A. Cohen

    See Also: LOOKS

35. (Scurried off, his) legs going like a windmill —Paige Mitchell

    See Also: MOVEMENT

36. Like a sunbeam, swift and bright —Sir Walter Scott
37. Move with the speed of a Grand Prix Racer —Anon
38. Moving fast as a train —Anon
39. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle —The Holy Bible/Job

    While this simile is not much used these days, it is the one that has seeded the many contemporary variations.

40. Quick and nimble, more like a bear than a squirrel —Henry G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
41. Quick as a lizard —Anthony Trollope
42. Quick as an attack dog —Gloria Norris
43. (Acted) quick as a knife —Penelope Gilliatt
44. (The wolf … ate her up as) quick as a slap —Anne Sexton
45. Quick as a striking snake —George Garrett
46. Quick as a weasel —Robert B. Parker
47. Quick as a wink —Anon

    While variations such as “Quick as dust” and “Quick as scat” have faded from the American vocabulary, “Quick as a wink” endures to the point of overuse.

48. (Goes) quick as light —Noël Coward, lyrics for “Chase Me Charlie”
49. Quick as lightning —Frances Sheridan

    The American adaption of the simile first used by Sheridan in a play named Discovery is “Quick as greased lightning.”

50. Quick as mercury —Marguerite Yourcenar
51. (Slipped down) quick as minnows —Marge Piercy
52. (Barry’s eye was as) quick as sound —Frank Swinnerton
53. Quicker than a crab underwater —John Updike
54. Quicker than boiling asparagus —Caesar Augustus

    According to Stevenson’s Proverbs, Maxims and Famous Sayings, Augustus used this expression whenever he wanted anything to be done fast.

55. Quick on his feet as a running deer —Stephen Vincent Benét
56. (Lavella’s brain) raced like a trapped rabbit —William Beechcroft
57. (Feet) rapid as the river —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
58. Rash as fire —William Shakespeare
59. (Raleigh) rushed through (these hypotheses) like rosary beads —Michael Malone
60. (Men) rushing like they were bolt out of a cannon —Richard Ford
61. Rushing wildly from room to room like a flustered hen —Christopher Isherwood
62. Scurried like a crab —Michael Malone
63. She was so swift … it was like having a small cute dog with you —Isak Dinesen
64. Some people are too fast for their own good, like Asahel in the Book of Samuel —Saul Bellow
65. Sped around like intergalactic missiles —Lisa Harris

    Harris’s simile describes the activity of the Lubavitcher women in Crown Heights, the subject of her book The World of a Hasidic Family.

66. (The game) speeds along like a fast freight —W. P. Kinsella

    The game speeding along is baseball, the background for The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and other Kinsella novels.

67. Speedy as a steam roller —George Ade
68. Started for me (as to attack) like a streak of lightning —Rex Stout
69. Swift as a cloud between sea and sky —Percy Bysshe Shelley
70. Swift as a greyhound —Ouida
71. Swift as a mugger —David Leavitt
72. Swift as an arrow —Anon

    This has been attributed to numerous sources dating back to the early seventeenth century.

73. Swift as a plunging knife —Rudyard Kipling
74. Swift as a shadow —William Shakespeare
75. Swift as desire —Mary Pix
76. Swift as fear —Thomas Parnell
77. Swift as the eagle (flieth) —The Holy Bible/Deuteronomy
78. Swift as the waters —The Holy Bible/Job
79. Swift as thought —William Shakespeare
80. Swift as unbridled rage —Henry Abbey
81. Swifter than the wind —William Shakespeare
82. Swift in motion as a ball —William Shakespeare
83. (Fluttering her bristly black lashes as) swiftly as butterflies’ wings —Margaret Mitchell

    The girl fluttering her lashes is Scarlett O’Hara of Gone with the Wind fame.

84. Travelling fast as a wish —Elizabeth Bishop
85. (The race) went by like an express train —Enid Bagnold
86. (She dressed and) went off like a top with the whip behind it —Vicki Baum
87. Went past … like lightning past a hill —Jessamyn West
88. Went through it like a clown through a paper hoop —Temole Scott
89. Went through like shit through a tin horn —American colloquialism

Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

speed

Fast, quick, rapid, and swift are all used to say taht something moves or happens with great speed. Rapid and swift are not usually used in conversation.

Fast is used both as an adjective and an adverb. There is no adverb ‘fastly’.

…fast communications.

I ran as fast as I could.

1. ‘quick’

Quick is an adjective. You do not usually used it as an adverb. Instead you use the adverb quickly.

It is this muscle which gives us our quick, springing movements.

I walked quickly up the passage.

In conversation, you can use the comparative form quicker as an adverb.

I swam on a bit quicker.

Goats could ruin a farmer’s field quicker than baboons.

He began to speak more quickly.

You can use the superlative form quickest as an adverb in speech or writing.

…and Freedman reacted quickest to head the ball into the net.

2. ‘rapid’ and ‘swift’

Rapid and swift are adjectives. The corresponding adverbs are rapidly and swiftly.

Jobs tend to be plentiful at a time of rapid economic growth.

They walked rapidly past the churchyard.

…a swift decision.

He walked swiftly towards home.

3. asking about speed

Fast is the word you usually use when you are asking about the speed of something.

How fast is the fish swimming?

…looking out of the window to see how fast we were going.

4. vehicles

You use fast to say that a vehicle is capable of moving with great speed.

…a fastcar.

5. people

You do not usually use fast to talk about people, but you can use it in front of words like driver and runner to say that someone drives quickly or is capable of running quickly.

Not being a fast runner, I was glad I had parked close to the hall.

6. changes

When you are talking about the speed at which something increases or decreases, you usually use rapid.

People are worried about the rapid and massive increase in military spending.

7. no delay

Fast, immediate, quick, rapid, and swift are all used to say that something happens without any delay.

I only got a fast return on my investment once.

My immediate reaction was just disgust.

They are pressing for a quick resumption of arms negotiations.

… managers plagued by demands for rapid decisions.

The response was swift and intense.

8. short duration

You can use quick, rapid, or swift to say that something lasts only a short time.

…a quick visit.

You are likely to make a rapid recovery.

…the swift descent from tentility to near-poverty.

---

speed

– speed up

Speed can be a noun or a verb.

1. used as a noun

The speed of someone or something is the rate at which they move.

He increased his speed to 115mph.

…the speed of light.

Speed is often used in prepositional phrases beginning with at or with.

You can say that someone or something moves at a particular speed.

He goes on driving at the same speed.

The bullets hit Ilie Popescu at a speed of 1,350 feet per second.

If you want to emphasize how fast something is moving, you can use at and an adjective in front of speed.

I drove at great speed to West Bank.

A plane flew low over the ship at lightning speed.

If you want to emphasize how quickly something happens or is done, you use with and an adjective in front of speed.

The shape of their bodies changes with astonishing speed.

They have succeeded in expanding their industries with remarkable speed.

2. used as a verb

In stories, if someone speeds somewhere, they move or travel there quickly. When speed has this meaning, its past tense and past participle is sped.

They sped along Main Street towards the highway.

They drove through Port Philip and sped on down south.

3. ‘speed up’

If something speeds up or if you speed it up, it moves, happens, or is done more quickly.

They’re way ahead of us. Speed up!

The past tense and past participle of speed up is speeded up.

Tom speeded up and overtook them.

The process is now being speeded up.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

speed

Past participle: speeded/sped
Gerund: speeding

Imperative
speed
speed

Present
I speed
you speed
he/she/it speeds
we speed
you speed
they speed

Preterite
I speeded/sped
you speeded/sped
he/she/it speeded/sped
we speeded/sped
you speeded/sped
they speeded/sped

Present Continuous
I am speeding
you are speeding
he/she/it is speeding
we are speeding
you are speeding
they are speeding

Present Perfect
I have speeded/sped
you have speeded/sped
he/she/it has speeded/sped
we have speeded/sped
you have speeded/sped
they have speeded/sped

Past Continuous
I was speeding
you were speeding
he/she/it was speeding
we were speeding
you were speeding
they were speeding

Past Perfect
I had speeded/sped
you had speeded/sped
he/she/it had speeded/sped
we had speeded/sped
you had speeded/sped
they had speeded/sped

Future
I will speed
you will speed
he/she/it will speed
we will speed
you will speed
they will speed

Future Perfect
I will have speeded/sped
you will have speeded/sped
he/she/it will have speeded/sped
we will have speeded/sped
you will have speeded/sped
they will have speeded/sped

Future Continuous
I will be speeding
you will be speeding
he/she/it will be speeding
we will be speeding
you will be speeding
they will be speeding

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been speeding
you have been speeding
he/she/it has been speeding
we have been speeding
you have been speeding
they have been speeding

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been speeding
you will have been speeding
he/she/it will have been speeding
we will have been speeding
you will have been speeding
they will have been speeding

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been speeding
you had been speeding
he/she/it had been speeding
we had been speeding
you had been speeding
they had been speeding

Conditional
I would speed
you would speed
he/she/it would speed
we would speed
you would speed
they would speed

Past Conditional
I would have speeded/sped
you would have speeded/sped
he/she/it would have speeded/sped
we would have speeded/sped
you would have speeded/sped
they would have speeded/sped

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Translations

скорость, быстрота, число оборотов, спид, ускорять, торопить, спешить

существительное ↓

глагол ↓

Словосочетания

traveling at nearly the speed of light — перемещение почти со скоростью света  
a short burst of speed — резкий набор скорости  
his final, straining burst of speed — его последнее, натужное ускорение  
at (a) breakneck pace / speed — сломя голову, с головокружительной быстротой  
to drive engine up to speed — раскручивать двигатель  
to drop speed — снижать скорость  
to drive the engine up to speed — раскручивать двигатель  
first speed — первая скорость  
at / with lightning speed, like lightning — с быстротой молнии, молниеносно  
speed record — рекорд по скорости  
to ride full speed — скакать во весь опор  
a burst of speed — резкое увеличение скорости  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Фразовые глаголы

speed up — ускорять, убыстрять, увеличивать

Возможные однокоренные слова

speeder  — повышающее устройство, ровничная машина, скоростной автомобиль
speedily  — быстро, поспешно
speeding  — езда на большой скорости, езда с недозволенной скоростью
speedy  — быстрый, скорый, поспешный, безотлагательный, проворный
overspeed  — завышенная, чрезмерная скорость, ехать с превышением скорости

Формы слова

verb
I/you/we/they: speed
he/she/it: speeds
ing ф. (present participle): speeding
2-я ф. (past tense): sped or speeded
3-я ф. (past participle): sped or speeded

noun
ед. ч.(singular): speed
мн. ч.(plural): speeds

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the property of moving bodies. For other uses, see Speed (disambiguation).

Speed
Speed can be thought of as the rate at which an object covers distance. A fast-moving object has a high speed and covers a relatively large distance in a given amount of time, while a slow-moving object covers a relatively small amount of distance in the same amount of time.
Common symbols	v
SI unit	m/s, m s−1
Dimension	L T−1

In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as v) of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantity.^[1] The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance travelled by the object divided by the duration of the interval;^[2] the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as the duration of the time interval approaches zero. Speed is not the same as velocity.

Speed has the dimensions of distance divided by time. The SI unit of speed is the metre per second (m/s), but the most common unit of speed in everyday usage is the kilometre per hour (km/h) or, in the US and the UK, miles per hour (mph). For air and marine travel, the knot is commonly used.

The fastest possible speed at which energy or information can travel, according to special relativity, is the speed of light in vacuum c = 299792458 metres per second (approximately 1079000000 km/h or 671000000 mph). Matter cannot quite reach the speed of light, as this would require an infinite amount of energy. In relativity physics, the concept of rapidity replaces the classical idea of speed.

Definition

Historical definition

Italian physicist Galileo Galilei is usually credited with being the first to measure speed by considering the distance covered and the time it takes. Galileo defined speed as the distance covered per unit of time.^[3] In equation form, that is

where is speed, is distance, and is time. A cyclist who covers 30 metres in a time of 2 seconds, for example, has a speed of 15 metres per second. Objects in motion often have variations in speed (a car might travel along a street at 50 km/h, slow to 0 km/h, and then reach 30 km/h).

Instantaneous speed

Speed at some instant, or assumed constant during a very short period of time, is called instantaneous speed. By looking at a speedometer, one can read the instantaneous speed of a car at any instant.^[3] A car travelling at 50 km/h generally goes for less than one hour at a constant speed, but if it did go at that speed for a full hour, it would travel 50 km. If the vehicle continued at that speed for half an hour, it would cover half that distance (25 km). If it continued for only one minute, it would cover about 833 m.

In mathematical terms, the instantaneous speed is defined as the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity , that is, the derivative of the position with respect to time:^[2][4]

If is the length of the path (also known as the distance) travelled until time , the speed equals the time derivative of :^[2]

In the special case where the velocity is constant (that is, constant speed in a straight line), this can be simplified to . The average speed over a finite time interval is the total distance travelled divided by the time duration.

Average speed

Different from instantaneous speed, average speed is defined as the total distance covered divided by the time interval. For example, if a distance of 80 kilometres is driven in 1 hour, the average speed is 80 kilometres per hour. Likewise, if 320 kilometres are travelled in 4 hours, the average speed is also 80 kilometres per hour. When a distance in kilometres (km) is divided by a time in hours (h), the result is in kilometres per hour (km/h).

Average speed does not describe the speed variations that may have taken place during shorter time intervals (as it is the entire distance covered divided by the total time of travel), and so average speed is often quite different from a value of instantaneous speed.^[3] If the average speed and the time of travel are known, the distance travelled can be calculated by rearranging the definition to

Using this equation for an average speed of 80 kilometres per hour on a 4-hour trip, the distance covered is found to be 320 kilometres.

Expressed in graphical language, the slope of a tangent line at any point of a distance-time graph is the instantaneous speed at this point, while the slope of a chord line of the same graph is the average speed during the time interval covered by the chord. Average speed of an object is
Vav = s÷t

Difference between speed and velocity

Speed denotes only how fast an object is moving, whereas velocity describes both how fast and in which direction the object is moving.^[5] If a car is said to travel at 60 km/h, its speed has been specified. However, if the car is said to move at 60 km/h to the north, its velocity has now been specified.

The big difference can be discerned when considering movement around a circle. When something moves in a circular path and returns to its starting point, its average velocity is zero, but its average speed is found by dividing the circumference of the circle by the time taken to move around the circle. This is because the average velocity is calculated by considering only the displacement between the starting and end points, whereas the average speed considers only the total distance travelled.

Tangential speed

Linear speed is the distance travelled per unit of time, while tangential speed (or tangential velocity) is the linear speed of something moving along a circular path.^[6] A point on the outside edge of a merry-go-round or turntable travels a greater distance in one complete rotation than a point nearer the center. Travelling a greater distance in the same time means a greater speed, and so linear speed is greater on the outer edge of a rotating object than it is closer to the axis. This speed along a circular path is known as tangential speed because the direction of motion is tangent to the circumference of the circle. For circular motion, the terms linear speed and tangential speed are used interchangeably, and both use units of m/s, km/h, and others.

Rotational speed (or angular speed) involves the number of revolutions per unit of time. All parts of a rigid merry-go-round or turntable turn about the axis of rotation in the same amount of time. Thus, all parts share the same rate of rotation, or the same number of rotations or revolutions per unit of time. It is common to express rotational rates in revolutions per minute (RPM) or in terms of the number of «radians» turned in a unit of time. There are little more than 6 radians in a full rotation (2π radians exactly). When a direction is assigned to rotational speed, it is known as rotational velocity or angular velocity. Rotational velocity is a vector whose magnitude is the rotational speed.

Tangential speed and rotational speed are related: the greater the RPMs, the larger the speed in metres per second. Tangential speed is directly proportional to rotational speed at any fixed distance from the axis of rotation.^[6] However, tangential speed, unlike rotational speed, depends on radial distance (the distance from the axis). For a platform rotating with a fixed rotational speed, the tangential speed in the centre is zero. Towards the edge of the platform the tangential speed increases proportional to the distance from the axis.^[7] In equation form:

where v is tangential speed and ω (Greek letter omega) is rotational speed. One moves faster if the rate of rotation increases (a larger value for ω), and one also moves faster if movement farther from the axis occurs (a larger value for r). Move twice as far from the rotational axis at the centre and you move twice as fast. Move out three times as far, and you have three times as much tangential speed. In any kind of rotating system, tangential speed depends on how far you are from the axis of rotation.

When proper units are used for tangential speed v, rotational speed ω, and radial distance r, the direct proportion of v to both r and ω becomes the exact equation

Thus, tangential speed will be directly proportional to r when all parts of a system simultaneously have the same ω, as for a wheel, disk, or rigid wand.

Units

Units of speed include:

• metres per second (symbol m s⁻¹ or m/s), the SI derived unit;
• kilometres per hour (symbol km/h);
• miles per hour (symbol mi/h or mph);
• knots (nautical miles per hour, symbol kn or kt);
• feet per second (symbol fps or ft/s);
• Mach number (dimensionless), speed divided by the speed of sound;
• in natural units (dimensionless), speed divided by the speed of light in vacuum (symbol c = 299792458 m/s).

Conversions between common units of speed

	m/s	km/h	mph	knot	ft/s
1 m/s =	1	3.600000	2.236936*	1.943844*	3.280840*
1 km/h =	0.277778*	1	0.621371*	0.539957*	0.911344*
1 mph =	0.44704	1.609344	1	0.868976*	1.466667*
1 knot =	0.514444*	1.852	1.150779*	1	1.687810*
1 ft/s =	0.3048	1.09728	0.681818*	0.592484*	1

(* = approximate values)

Examples of different speeds

Speed	m/s	ft/s	km/h	mph	Notes
Global average sea level rise	0.00000000011	0.00000000036	0.0000000004	0.00000000025	3.5 mm/year[8]
Approximate rate of continental drift	0.0000000013	0.0000000042	0.0000000045	0.0000000028	4 cm/year. Varies depending on location.
Speed of a common snail	0.001	0.003	0.004	0.002	1 millimetre per second
A brisk walk	1.7	5.5	6.1	3.8
A typical road cyclist	4.4	14.4	16	10	Varies widely by person, terrain, bicycle, effort, weather
A fast martial arts kick	7.7	25.2	27.7	17.2	Fastest kick recorded at 130 milliseconds from floor to target at 1 meter distance. Average velocity speed across kick duration[9]
Sprint runners	12.2	40	43.92	27	Usain Bolt’s 100 metres world record.
Approximate average speed of road race cyclists	12.5	41.0	45	28	On flat terrain, will vary
Typical suburban speed limit in most of the world	13.8	45.3	50	30
Taipei 101 observatory elevator	16.7	54.8	60.6	37.6	1010 m/min
Typical rural speed limit	24.6	80.66	88.5	56
British National Speed Limit (single carriageway)	26.8	88	96.56	60
Category 1 hurricane	33	108	119	74	Minimum sustained speed over 1 minute
Average peak speed of a cheetah	33.53	110	120.7	75
Speed limit on a French autoroute	36.1	118	130	81
Highest recorded human-powered speed	37.02	121.5	133.2	82.8	Sam Whittingham in a recumbent bicycle[10]
Average speed of Human sneeze	44.44	145.82	160	99.42
Muzzle velocity of a paintball marker	90	295	320	200
Cruising speed of a Boeing 747-8 passenger jet	255	836	917	570	Mach 0.85 at 35000 ft (10668 m) altitude
Speed of a .22 caliber Long Rifle bullet	326.14	1070	1174.09	729.55
The official land speed record	341.1	1119.1	1227.98	763
The speed of sound in dry air at sea-level pressure and 20 °C	343	1125	1235	768	Mach 1 by definition. 20 °C = 293.15 kelvins.
Muzzle velocity of a 7.62×39mm cartridge	710	2330	2600	1600	The 7.62×39mm round is a rifle cartridge of Soviet origin
Official flight airspeed record for jet engined aircraft	980	3215	3530	2194	Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Space Shuttle on re-entry	7800	25600	28000	17,500
Escape velocity on Earth	11200	36700	40000	25000	11.2 km·s−1
Voyager 1 relative velocity to the Sun in 2013	17000	55800	61200	38000	Fastest heliocentric recession speed of any humanmade object.[11] (11 mi/s)
Average orbital speed of planet Earth around the Sun	29783	97713	107218	66623
The fastest recorded speed of the Helios probes	70,220	230,381	252,792	157,078	Recognized as the fastest speed achieved by a man-made spacecraft, achieved in solar orbit.
Orbital speed of the Sun relative to the center of the galaxy	251000	823000	904000	561000
Speed of the Galaxy relative to the CMB	550000	1800000	2000000	1240000
Speed of light in vacuum (symbol c)	299792458	983571056	1079252848	670616629	Exactly 299792458 m/s, by definition of the metre

Psychology

According to Jean Piaget, the intuition for the notion of speed in humans precedes that of duration, and is based on the notion of outdistancing.^[12] Piaget studied this subject inspired by a question asked to him in 1928 by Albert Einstein: «In what order do children acquire the concepts of time and speed?»^[13] Children’s early concept of speed is based on «overtaking», taking only temporal and spatial orders into consideration, specifically: «A moving object is judged to be more rapid than another when at a given moment the first object is behind and a moment or so later ahead of the other object.»^[14]

See also

References

• Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I, Section 8–2. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts (1963). ISBN 0-201-02116-1.

I.noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at full speed

▪ Parker was driving at full speed when he hit the wall.

at high speed

▪ The train was approaching at high speed.

at/with lightning speed (=extremely quickly)

clock speed

▪ a clock speed of 1 gigahertz

come running/flying/speeding etc

▪ Jess came flying round the corner and banged straight into me.

cruising speed

▪ We fly at a cruising speed of 500 mph.

exceed/break the speed limit

excessive speed

▪ Excessive speed is a major cause of road accidents.

kill your speed (=drive slowly)

lose weight/height/speed etc

▪ You’re looking slim. Have you lost weight?

▪ The plane emptied its fuel tanks as it started losing altitude.

slacken your pace/speed (=go or walk more slowly)

▪ Guy slackened his pace as he approached the gate.

speed bump

speed camera

speed dating

speed dial

speed limit

▪ a 30 mph speed limit

speed reading

speed restrictions

▪ Drivers are ignoring speed restrictions.

speed skating

speed trap

speed (up) sb’s recovery (=make them recover more quickly)

▪ She believes that a holiday would speed my recovery.

the speed limit

▪ Too many people go over the speed limit in residential areas.

time/speed is of the essence (=it is very important to do something quickly)

wind speed

▪ Wind speeds of up to 80 miles an hour were recorded.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

average

▪ What is the average speed for the entire journey?

▪ As in many western states, drivers in Nevada have increased their average speeds modestly since the limits were raised.

▪ The files are encoded at a fixed rate low enough for the average connection speed.

▪ From this they could determine the average speeds the waves traveled at different depths.

▪ Driving standards on the whole improved during the eighties and certainly average speeds increased, in some cases dramatically.

▪ So the average speed is five meters per second, and it will have fallen five meters.

▪ London traffic now moves at an average speed of eleven miles per hour.

▪ Lillywhite won in a record average speed.

breakneck

▪ As most travelers know, you can only travel at breakneck speed for so long.

different

▪ How can observers moving at different speeds all measure light at the same speed?

▪ Even 50 different speed limits, bank holidays, fireworks laws are defensible.

▪ Pupils will also move at different speeds for different activities.

▪ Strainers also cause currents of different speeds and directions.

▪ He argued that two bodies of the same material but different weights would fall at different speeds.

▪ Different weapons, with different muzzle speeds, must somehow have been involved.

▪ Even worse, it seems to move at different speeds in different subtypes.

▪ The table could be turned at any of ten different speeds.

full

▪ Now, the economy is running at full speed.

▪ We thought all was well until the Battlebus passed us at full speed in the opposite direction.

▪ Raymond is traveling full speed downhill on his own momentum.

▪ Somehow she had hit him when he was running at full speed and almost out of range.

▪ She barreled down the runway, sprinting full speed.

▪ It headed directly towards us at full speed behind a great white foaming bow-wave.

great

▪ The great speed with which the computer carries out calculations means that experiments can be carried out quickly and cheaply.

▪ He has tremendous boxing skills, a big punch, great hand speed and quick feet.

▪ The speech, an undeniable disappointment, had indeed been given in an unusually dull monotone and at great speed.

▪ Luckily my companion reacted with great speed, grabbing a piece of sacking and laying it over the top of the tank.

▪ They would go on and on at great speed.

▪ Similarly, the momentum becomes ever greater as the speed of light is approached.

▪ So, on the whole I am cautiously in favour of machines inspecting passports at great speed, a scheme experimentally working at Heathrow.

▪ If he balances correctly, he is swept forward upon the leading edge of the wave at great speed.

high

▪ At present, they can only develop profitably in locations with high wind speed.

▪ Out to a distance of seventy-five kilometers, windows are blown in and shards of glass are accelerated to high speeds.

▪ Further facilities should be provided to enable ultra high speed updating to be performed in special cases.

▪ Several officials noted that a higher-speed network could be offered by the mid-1990s.

▪ The core of this international network consists of computers permanently joined through high speed connections.

▪ But many across the nation expressed fears that higher speeds will lead to more deaths.

▪ Guided buses, attached to rails at their sides, can travel at high speeds without needing drivers to steer them.

▪ One sector of society expressing a need for the higher-speed networks is the research and education community.

low

▪ This is illegal as they have a lower speed rating than the vehicle requires.

▪ Beat 2 minutes on low speed.

▪ But of course the foam system had better switch itself off automatically at low speeds.

▪ Beat 1 minute on low speed.

▪ Use a hand drill or an electric drill on very low speed.

▪ Blend at lowest speed 30 seconds and then beat at medium speed 3 minutes.

▪ Every landing should be made fully held off to ensure a low touch down speed.

▪ From 1970 to 1975, traffic deaths fell because of lower speed limits and curtailed travel after 1973.

maximum

▪ During this time affected characters run at maximum speed away from it.

▪ They climbed into the car and she took off at maximum golf cart speed.

▪ Yes. but you will probably only notice at past the legal maximum speed limit.

▪ The error was caused by a bug in software written by Intel to achieve maximum chip speeds in a test called SPECint92.

▪ Has a maximum speed of two hundred and thirty at ten thousand feet.

▪ It had a cruising speed of 106 and a maximum speed of 129 miles per hour.

▪ Fortunately, Evan-Thomas in Barham, steaming at maximum speed with his four battleships, had come within firing range.

▪ Current tests show a maximum speed of about 6 megabits per second for downloads and about 640 kilobits per second upstream.

normal

▪ Remember that the language is spoken at normal speed for an audience of native speakers.

▪ The result was lines that moved at a third of their normal speeds.

▪ However, for normal speeds of travel, the differences between the rates of clocks are very small.

▪ It lets you play human speech at normal speed with pretty good sound quality.

▪ Corporate Relations bore speaking at normal speed.

▪ Having discovered which it is, say it up-to-time at normal speed.

▪ Often you will need to slow down to almost normal speed and sample sections.

▪ Running is only possible at half normal running speed.

slow

▪ The slower the speed, the finer the grain and the greater the resolving power of these films.

▪ People have become frustrated with the inability to get online and the slow speeds of the Internet.

▪ With the slower speeds the qualifying heats as well as the race itself were almost injury-free this year.

▪ Speedsensitive steering too sensitive at slow speeds.

▪ The slowest speeds, however, are already quite fast and there is little practical room for manipulation beyond them.

▪ That may be a rather slow speed compared with that of light.

▪ Earlier types have run at high power, even when manoeuvring at slow speed, to keep the skirt inflated.

▪ On slowest speed, mix in the flour and baking soda.

top

▪ The cutters were then ordered by a signal flashed from the clifftops to close in at top speed.

▪ Then, he put the problems down to a lack of top speed compared to other machines in the series.

▪ Voice over Sarajevo Airport; and the Hercules is unloaded at top speed.

▪ They are caught very well since they are travelling at top speed.

▪ Voice over It’s six cylinder engine has a top speed of seventy five miles an hour in forward and reverse.

▪ No time wasted, away within seconds at top speed.

▪ Its top speed was lower, and at anything near that speed, its range was laughable.

■ NOUN

clock

▪ The new iterations will feature a higher clock speed processor and two chips per board.

▪ For example, the 6×686-P200 system I tested uses a Cyrix chip with a clock speed of 166 megahertz.

▪ This is used to indicate the clock speed of computers.

▪ Despite the different clock speeds, all three offer roughly comparable performance when used to upgrade a 486 system.

▪ As of last week, Sun was still tinkering with the Viking’s clock speeds.

▪ Faster clock speeds are expected later this year.

lightning

▪ Having fallen in love with each other, the couple are now setting up home together at lightning speed.

▪ They darted with lightning speed after one another.

▪ Some of these fellas are several screens high, yet they zip around at lightning speed!

▪ Time was, not everyone had access to moving things at lightning speed, with neither brakes nor checks.

▪ The application was, of course, dismissed with lightning speed.

▪ They were looking for food, of course, and would suddenly plunge downwards at lightning speed when they spotted something.

▪ We have acquired a reputation as the dumping ground with lightning speed.

▪ He moved with his usual lightning speed, slapping her brutally across the face.

limit

▪ There was no speed limit on the autobahn and even at 135 m.p.h. the Jaguar seemed to be only cruising.

▪ They go 10 miles or more below the speed limit on the highway!!

▪ Flat out at 8 knots, he almost breaks the Thames speed limit.

▪ Theoretical speed limits for a single processor are being approached.

▪ The speed limit is fifty miles an hour, but some drivers have been caught doing more than eighty.

▪ Other approaches include limiting vehicle horsepower, placing warning signs to mark hazards and enforcing speed limits.

▪ I may be guilty of exceeding the speed limit.

▪ New figures show that 3 in 5 motorists break the speed limit on motorways.

record

▪ As it was certain that the aircraft could go faster an attempt was made on the world speed record.

▪ Did Pauline break a speed record for getting a pattern off the page and on to the ski slope?

▪ Both had been flown from Tangmere while undertaking their world air speed record runs in 1946 and 1953 respectively.

▪ Spent day boating on lake in Champex annoying local fishermen with our attempts at the world speed record for pedal boats.

▪ Although the engine holds a world speed record, its arrival in the Cotswolds was a little more sedate.

restriction

▪ Track renewals are also becoming overdue, with a succession of speed restrictions because of the condition of parts of the line.

▪ At the end of April there will still be 61 speed restrictions across the network.

▪ Previous requests have been turned down as the Transport Department felt the road did not meet criteria for imposing speed restrictions.

wind

▪ All of these generalisations depend of course on a constant wind speed sufficient to fly the kite within its designed wind window.

▪ As the wind speed varied, so did the strength of the rain.

▪ Another interesting option is the use of wind turbines as windbreaks to reduce wind speed and erosion.

▪ Wind drift indicators were used to figure out wind speed and direction, but they worked only if they could be seen.

▪ The reported wind speeds gave everyone a false sense of security.

▪ At what wind speed does it become unsafe for novice paraglider pilots to fly? 3.

▪ This is important because the balloon and payload could be damaged if the wind speed is above 10 knots.

▪ The wind speed and direction, and the cloud height and type were major hurdles to be overcome each hour.

■ VERB

break

▪ Did Pauline break a speed record for getting a pattern off the page and on to the ski slope?

▪ He rolled the pod around its gyros, and used full thrust to break his orbital speed.

▪ Flat out at 8 knots, he almost breaks the Thames speed limit.

▪ New figures show that 3 in 5 motorists break the speed limit on motorways.

▪ We need to leave Kings Heath at 6.15 to get there in time without breaking too many speed limits.

▪ This time Myeloski broke the speed limit without hesitation.

cruise

▪ Fogarty cruised at equal speed with the truck until Streeter pulled to the side of the road across from a cemetery.

▪ It had a cruising speed of 106 and a maximum speed of 129 miles per hour.

▪ The train had just pulled out of the Twenty-third Street station and was accelerating to its cruising speed.

▪ And the noise settles to an unobtrusive drone at highway cruising speeds.

▪ The machinery sounds about you reach a steady cruising speed.

drive

▪ Diplomatic sources who witnessed the incident said he was driven off at speed in a police convoy and his whereabouts are unknown.

▪ Alarmed, and thinking that my President needed me, I dashed to get there, driving at foolhardy speed.

▪ They watched silently as the car was driven at speed off the road to brake violently on the turf of the headland.

▪ Mix drove it at maniacal speeds, sober or not.

▪ When Carver alighted outside the Hilton in Park Lane the limo drove past at speed.

▪ I always buckled my safety belt and drove below the speed limit, stopping for school buses, pulling over for sirens.

▪ The driver banged on his horn but Gregson drove on at speed, unconcerned by the accident he’d almost caused.

▪ A., Benjamin is driving twice the speed limit when he runs a stop sign.

exceed

▪ I may be guilty of exceeding the speed limit.

▪ The local police frequently arrested students for exceeding the speed limit or other minor infractions of the law.

▪ He says he’s arresting the driver for exceeding the speed limit.

▪ Nine of the 28 subjects were found to have been exceeding the speed limit on at least one of the four occasions.

▪ Speed camera records showed about 11% of drivers exceeding the speed limit in July 1990 compared with over 20% before the campaign.

gather

▪ She lifted it over the fence and set off across the little meadow, gathering speed and thoroughly enjoying it.

▪ I said as the train gathered speed.

▪ It gathered speed and raced towards the built-up complexes.

▪ The big trimotor gathered speed and roared off down the harbor for more than a mile but never got close to liftoff.

▪ Then the van rolls forward, gathers speed, and drifts on by.

▪ It gathers speed, and suddenly hits the wall by the foot of the bed.

▪ The blue train is pulling away from me in the drizzle, gathering speed, effortlessly accelerating along its elevated track.

▪ In Baldersdale that process gathered no speed at all and indeed, never even crossed the finishing line.

improve

▪ Thus it is clear that you need to work on the fast twitch muscles if you want to improve your speed.

▪ They improved walking speed, stair climbing, balance and spontaneous daily activity.

▪ For instance a gene may be successful through improving the running speed of a predator.

▪ Training was geared more to general fitness than particular skills, and centred on running and skipping to improve speed and stamina.

▪ Safety levels have improved and with lower speeds have come reductions in noise and anxiety for residents.

▪ A second technique that greatly improves the speed of searching a sequential file is to use a logarithmic search.

▪ The study discards current Window 3.1 users in the intermediate term because it neither improves their speed nor enriches their functionality.

increase

▪ As they approached the castle they realized that the advance of the red weed was increasing in speed.

▪ Chang increased his speed to try to avoid an oncoming Toyota.

▪ The system will use intelligent retrieval technologies to increase the speed, ease and accuracy of answering customer support calls.

▪ Data compression can increase the effective speed at which a connection operates by getting rid of redundant information.

▪ He increased speed, impatient to reach his destination.

▪ In network economics the customer can expect increased speed and choice, and more responsibility as a customer.

▪ Rapid descent With increasing speed, the difficulties associated with descent and translation back to hovering flight become more acute.

▪ As in many western states, drivers in Nevada have increased their average speeds modestly since the limits were raised.

measure

▪ How does having their own individual time cause people traveling at different speeds to measure the same speed of light?

▪ Are we measuring time and speed or are we measuring something we think is time and speed?

▪ This is important because many devices for measuring low flow speeds in turn require calibration.

▪ Other features of the disc include a built-in metronome that permits players to measure and pace the speed of their playing.

▪ Then I could measure the speed of the wind inside me and know where on the scale I was in general located.

▪ It measures the speed at which you can download material from the Net.

▪ For the more advanced user the speed mode allows typists and companies to measure typing speeds.

▪ Efficiency could be measured in terms of speed of performance, the least amount of storage required or the least number of program lines.

move

▪ How can observers moving at different speeds all measure light at the same speed?

▪ Time was, not everyone had access to moving things at lightning speed, with neither brakes nor checks.

▪ With sixty million air travellers a year, such elements can move at some speed.

▪ He was the only one to keep moving at the same speed.

▪ Pupils will also move at different speeds for different activities.

▪ The anti-gay marriage bill is moving with unusual speed through Congress.

▪ It was moving at an incredible speed through the green desert.

▪ He was climbing like a goat, moving with extraordinary speed.

operate

▪ A large supply voltage and phase resistance are only required when the motor is operating at high speeds.

▪ Private local-area networks on the Internet operate at data transmission speeds of 10 to 100 megabits per second.

▪ By contrast, lasers and l.e.d.’s can operate at great speed.

▪ At operating speed there was no roaring, vibrating, or shaking, just a smooth whine from the turbine.

▪ Optical approaches also generate less heat and may eventually operate at speeds up to 1, 000 times faster than electronic approaches.

pick

▪ As the campaign picks up speed, the issue of character is likely to become more prominent.

▪ As they picked up speed along the main tarmac road it was already 3 a.m.

▪ The coach picked up speed as it rattled and jolted down to Forty-second Street.

▪ The yacht started to pick up speed.

▪ He picked up speed fast, and when we got to the clearing again, he banked very hard to the left.

▪ Brian Reade is back tomorrow Over the hill and picking up speed!

▪ A slowing economy lessens the threat that inflation will pick up speed.

reach

▪ These solar sails would be slow to accelerate, but could eventually reach high speeds — at zero fuel cost.

▪ The machinery sounds about you reach a steady cruising speed.

▪ After reaching speeds of 200 miles per hour enroute, you arrive at the barber shop.

▪ They gave chase along Drayton Road where they reached speeds of up to seventy miles an hour.

▪ The bicycle’s special design means it can reach speeds of up to sixty miles an hour.

▪ Contemporary accounts say that it could reach quite high speeds on the rails and that it saved fuel.

▪ The swordfish is also known to reach high speeds.

▪ The vessels were remarkably fast, and on sea trials had reached a speed of over 34 knots.

reduce

▪ In an effort to cut costs, Nissan will reduce the breathtaking speed at which new models are rushed on to the market.

▪ Cycling officers were asked what measures they used to reduce traffic speed and if they had a cycling programme.

▪ Morgan reduced speed and checked his appearance in the rear-view mirror, driving with one hand.

▪ He reduced speed and carefully wiped each of his own damp hands on his coat.

▪ Plundering enroute was forbidden, probably because it reduced the speed of the army rather than for any ethical reasons.

▪ He would have liked to reduce speed but he was worried about what might be coming up behind him.

▪ Another interesting option is the use of wind turbines as windbreaks to reduce wind speed and erosion.

▪ The individual becomes apathetic and disinterested, reduces the speed of work and the care taken over work.

run

▪ During this time affected characters run at maximum speed away from it.

▪ Now, the economy is running at full speed.

▪ Thus P Q does not imply that P and q run at the same speed.

▪ Without looking back she fled away from the stream to the woods and ran with all the speed her fear gave her.

▪ I can run full speed, straight ahead, without a problem and I can cut to my right.

▪ The dowel is gripped in a drill, and run at low speed, with a little pressure.

▪ The man she suspected of stealing her purse was running at top speed along the subway platform and up the stairs.

travel

▪ Witnesses say the rover seemed to be travelling at high speed.

▪ As most travelers know, you can only travel at breakneck speed for so long.

▪ Guided buses, attached to rails at their sides, can travel at high speeds without needing drivers to steer them.

▪ For one thing, you are forgetting the basic fact that light travels at finite speed.

▪ High, high it went, travelling at speed.

▪ You see, Watson, if light is a particle, then it will travel at a speed determined by the emitter.

▪ They are caught very well since they are travelling at top speed.

▪ It is inevitable that tyres like that will blow out when travelling at a high speed.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at (a) breathless pace/speed

▪ Indeed, Moffett worked at a breathless pace to ensure that those issues were addressed before the annual meeting took place.

▪ Though she has had little education, her vocabulary is excellent: she fountains out ideas and observations at breathless speed.

at breakneck speed/pace

▪ As most travelers know, you can only travel at breakneck speed for so long.

▪ Dorothy Newman nudged her fellow conspirator back to reality, then they ran at breakneck speed to their respective homes.

▪ If they had been alone … She shook her head in disbelief; everything was suddenly moving at breakneck speed.

▪ Neither do I. Tradition is being manufactured at breakneck pace.

▪ Some guides are indeed very brief, suggesting visits at breakneck speed where only a few items or rooms will be seen.

con merchant/speed merchant etc

full speed/steam ahead

▪ In the meantime, the three cruise lines are moving full speed ahead with major expansion plans.

▪ And, full speed ahead … the business sideline that’s helping farmers rake in the cash.

▪ He talks full steam ahead for another five minutes.

▪ It’s full steam ahead as investors get appetite for perks on a plate.

gather speed/force/momentum etc

▪ I said as the train gathered speed.

▪ I waited for it to gather momentum.

▪ She lifted it over the fence and set off across the little meadow, gathering speed and thoroughly enjoying it.

▪ The big trimotor gathered speed and roared off down the harbor for more than a mile but never got close to liftoff.

▪ The strikes continue to gather momentum.

▪ Then the van rolls forward, gathers speed, and drifts on by.

▪ These Christians were slow to gather forces for a Reconquista.

▪ Voucher trouble Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has threatened to boycott the government’s voucher system for asylum seekers as protests gather momentum.

more haste less speed

pick up speed/steam

▪ As they picked up speed along the main tarmac road it was already 3 a.m.

▪ If the economy is picking up steam, the recovery may be nipped in the bud by renewed Fed tightening.

▪ Indications the economy may be picking up steam hurt bonds by sparking concern inflation may accelerate, eroding bonds’ fixed payments.

▪ Of course, good melody will sound fine at any tempo, so play slowly and gradually pick up speed.

▪ The black-out protest is expected to pick up steam after the president signs the bill.

▪ The coach picked up speed as it rattled and jolted down to Forty-second Street.

▪ The object thereupon begins to expand, and it will rapidly pick up speed.

sort of price/time/speed etc

▪ But it was the key sort of time, wasn’t it?

▪ Got to call opposite number in Coventry office about outstanding claim … 16.22 Meeting time not like any other sort of time.

▪ It was the sort of price any commander had to pay for hoped-for victory.

▪ It was the sort of time and place where poems flourished along with the vegetation.

▪ Most of us do not have that sort of time to spare.

▪ Of course, a tactless dealer irritated him even more at this sort of time.

▪ Of course, there were other sorts of times too.

speed/traffic humps

top speed

▪ The ferry’s top speed is 25 mph.

▪ Gilfil gallops twenty miles at top speed, his hopes renewed, but he finds her listless and unseeing.

▪ He gunned the Budgie, and headed past the truck at top speed.

▪ Now everything seemed to happen at top speed.

▪ The cutters were then ordered by a signal flashed from the clifftops to close in at top speed.

▪ The man she suspected of stealing her purse was running at top speed along the subway platform and up the stairs.

▪ Then at top speed she raced for the keeper’s cottage.

▪ Then, he put the problems down to a lack of top speed compared to other machines in the series.

▪ Voice over Sarajevo Airport; and the Hercules is unloaded at top speed.

turn of speed

▪ Although the kangaroo has a fast turn of speed on the plan, he is handicapped when climbing trees.

▪ He is a top goalkicker, has a good turn of speed and is an excellent all-round performer.

▪ It has a daunting and sinister turn of speed.

▪ It looked as though it was capable of a fair turn of speed, anyway.

▪ Rodber has huge potential, however, a great physique, a fair turn of speed and good hands.

▪ They were capable of a good turn of speed on the straight stretch between South Croydon and Purley.

▪ Tonson’s printer and Purcell himself put on an extra turn of speed in case.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ Keep driving at a constant speed until I tell you differently.

▪ sensors which monitor speed and body movement

▪ The speed of change in the region has stunned everyone.

▪ The Earth moves round the Sun at a speed of 30 km per second.

▪ The Ferrari Testarossa has a top speed of 188 mph.

▪ the internal processing speed of a computer

▪ The train’s designers claim it is capable of attaining speeds in excess of 350 kph.

▪ Watch your speed when the roads are wet.

▪ What was the speed of the car at the time of the accident?

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ For barbell take a note of the light, the colour of the water, the speed of current and the temperature.

▪ Internet advertising, until recently flourishing, is hitting its first speed bump.

▪ Not surprisingly, our overall supply posture as well as its speed of response improved markedly.

▪ Palace lacked the speed of thought, the wit and the crisp execution that their boss displayed in his post-match press conference.

▪ Puncturing the three blisters received while trying to impress fellow teacup riders with spin speed, get in line for Matterhorn.

▪ The speed at which everything then happened made it all seem rather unreal: I just couldn’t get comfortable.

▪ The Embraer 120 turboprop is equipped with twin propellers designed to spin at a constant speed.

II.verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

away

▪ Around the corner of the building he saw a figure on a bike speeding away.

▪ He turned on to the highway, speeding away from the city.

▪ The man on the moped was already speeding away in the opposite direction.

by

▪ He has a rival in every direction, each vigilantly vying for the business that speeds by on six lanes of asphalt.

▪ Visitors have to take a local train to visit Delft; the express trains speed by.

▪ The rusty, cast-iron signs hardly register as motorists speed by.

▪ Now and then, a car speeds by from the other direction.

▪ He spotted a loaded-down Falcon speeding by on the boulevard, windows full of young laughing faces.

up

▪ Enzymes are protein molecules whose function is to speed up chemical reactions: that is, they are catalysts.

▪ Sometimes he or she is put on an exercise regimen that also speeds up the recovery.

▪ Auctions certainly speed up the house-buying process.

▪ Airlines there hire extra employees to ask those security questions, speeding up the process.

▪ Locally, the telephone was also speeding up business.

▪ The objectives of the program were to speed up renewal activities and to give communities more flexibility in renewal planning and implementation.

▪ Every reaction on a metabolic chart is speeded up by an enzyme.

▪ Perhaps life was flashing by like a tape player speeded up.

■ NOUN

car

▪ Eyewitnesses said the crashed car was speeding.

▪ In 1994, a Maryland State trooper saw a car speeding down Interstate 95.

▪ The perfect hidden racetrack, it seems, for car thieves to speed rally style, along miles of dirt tracks.

▪ Now and then, a car speeds by from the other direction.

development

▪ The all-embracing AD/Cycle combines a set of standards and interfaces to speed up application development.

▪ The use of modern contraceptives, they argued, would reduce fertility and speed economic and political development.

▪ The obvious dawned when a method of speeding the development time was spotted.

▪ It speeds development, he says.

▪ It includes the new Epick on-line documentation to speed application development.

▪ If they have not yet reached the clicking stage, the sound stimulates them to speed up their development.

▪ Beneficial development will be speeded up, damaging development checked and the green belt safeguarded.

pace

▪ Nevertheless, Muoi was widely regarded as a cautious leader who would be unlikely to speed up the pace of reform.

▪ Leaders and managers who are trying to speed up the pace of change in their organizations will find themselves pitted against job-mindedness.

process

▪ Auctions certainly speed up the house-buying process.

▪ It is not enough merely to speed up the process, however.

▪ Price began to speed the process.

▪ Airlines there hire extra employees to ask those security questions, speeding up the process.

▪ Will my right hon. Friend try to speed up that process in every possible way?

▪ How could we speed up the process of research and development?

▪ Potassium permanganate and sodium hypochlorite being added to anaerobic waste to speed the digestion process.

▪ According to Rothschilds the introduction of non-certification has speeded up the redemption process by eliminating the need to return share certificates.

recovery

▪ She believes that the respite of a holiday in Cambridge would speed my recovery.

▪ Sometimes he or she is put on an exercise regimen that also speeds up the recovery.

▪ It might speed up the eventual recovery in prices we all require to keep farming profitably in the future.

▪ They think it might speed his recovery.

▪ It is good to know that the doctors and the hospital team are working so hard to speed your recovery from cancer.

■ VERB

catch

▪ What is your best excuse for a motorway policeman who has just caught you speeding?

▪ Those visitors paid $ 769, 000 last year after they were caught speeding.

▪ If the Duke had been caught speeding today … his fine would probably have been something like seven hundred pounds.

help

▪ It can help to speed up the work where an investigation involves the results from several different cases.

▪ A victory for the pragmatists may help them to speed up the reforms.

▪ The orbital movement of the blade, which helps to speed cutting by aiding the removal of sawdust, has three settings.

▪ Chamberlain was appalled by the barbarity of Kristallnacht, which undoubtedly helped to speed up immigration procedures.

try

▪ Leaders and managers who are trying to speed up the pace of change in their organizations will find themselves pitted against job-mindedness.

▪ Premiums are beginning to be waived, and three month rent holidays are being offered to try and speed up movement.

▪ Our government, perversely, even tried to speed it up.

▪ Will my right hon. Friend try to speed up that process in every possible way?

▪ Some of them try to speed it up: they work there, and smoke three packs of cigarettes a day.

▪ If he wishes me to try to speed up replies, I shall certainly do so.

▪ Do not try to speed up progress by doing more goals in any one week than you should.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at (a) breathless pace/speed

▪ Indeed, Moffett worked at a breathless pace to ensure that those issues were addressed before the annual meeting took place.

▪ Though she has had little education, her vocabulary is excellent: she fountains out ideas and observations at breathless speed.

at breakneck speed/pace

▪ As most travelers know, you can only travel at breakneck speed for so long.

▪ Dorothy Newman nudged her fellow conspirator back to reality, then they ran at breakneck speed to their respective homes.

▪ If they had been alone … She shook her head in disbelief; everything was suddenly moving at breakneck speed.

▪ Neither do I. Tradition is being manufactured at breakneck pace.

▪ Some guides are indeed very brief, suggesting visits at breakneck speed where only a few items or rooms will be seen.

con merchant/speed merchant etc

full speed/steam ahead

▪ In the meantime, the three cruise lines are moving full speed ahead with major expansion plans.

▪ And, full speed ahead … the business sideline that’s helping farmers rake in the cash.

▪ He talks full steam ahead for another five minutes.

▪ It’s full steam ahead as investors get appetite for perks on a plate.

more haste less speed

sort of price/time/speed etc

▪ But it was the key sort of time, wasn’t it?

▪ Got to call opposite number in Coventry office about outstanding claim … 16.22 Meeting time not like any other sort of time.

▪ It was the sort of price any commander had to pay for hoped-for victory.

▪ It was the sort of time and place where poems flourished along with the vegetation.

▪ Most of us do not have that sort of time to spare.

▪ Of course, a tactless dealer irritated him even more at this sort of time.

▪ Of course, there were other sorts of times too.

speed/traffic humps

top speed

▪ The ferry’s top speed is 25 mph.

▪ Gilfil gallops twenty miles at top speed, his hopes renewed, but he finds her listless and unseeing.

▪ He gunned the Budgie, and headed past the truck at top speed.

▪ Now everything seemed to happen at top speed.

▪ The cutters were then ordered by a signal flashed from the clifftops to close in at top speed.

▪ The man she suspected of stealing her purse was running at top speed along the subway platform and up the stairs.

▪ Then at top speed she raced for the keeper’s cottage.

▪ Then, he put the problems down to a lack of top speed compared to other machines in the series.

▪ Voice over Sarajevo Airport; and the Hercules is unloaded at top speed.

turn of speed

▪ Although the kangaroo has a fast turn of speed on the plan, he is handicapped when climbing trees.

▪ He is a top goalkicker, has a good turn of speed and is an excellent all-round performer.

▪ It has a daunting and sinister turn of speed.

▪ It looked as though it was capable of a fair turn of speed, anyway.

▪ Rodber has huge potential, however, a great physique, a fair turn of speed and good hands.

▪ They were capable of a good turn of speed on the straight stretch between South Croydon and Purley.

▪ Tonson’s printer and Purcell himself put on an extra turn of speed in case.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ He says that the technique has meant they can speed up research time, helping to stay ahead of the field.

▪ Now, inexplicably, just as he was about to reach his goal, things had suddenly speeded up.

▪ People visibly speeding will also get reported and residents will occasionally be joined by officers.

▪ She also wants the Legislature to increase penalties for drivers who speed in school zones.

▪ The changing nature of the corporation speeded this along.

▪ This could speed the spread of labeling.

▪ To speed up publication the presentations have been used unaltered so the book lacks a coherent style or structure.

▪ With warming temperatures, the life cycle speeds up.

• Dictionary
• S
• Speed

Definitions of speed word

• noun speed rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing; swiftness; celerity: the speed of light; the speed of sound. 1
• noun speed relative rapidity in moving, going, etc.; rate of motion or progress: full speed ahead. 1
• noun speed full, maximum, or optimum rate of motion: The car gets to speed in just nine seconds. 1
• noun speed Automotive. a transmission gear ratio. 1
• noun speed Photography. Also called film speed. the sensitivity of a film or paper to light, measured by an ASA or DIN index, which assigns low numbers to slow film and higher numbers to faster film. Also called shutter speed. the length of time a shutter is opened to expose film. the largest opening at which a lens can be used. 1
• noun speed Slang. a stimulating drug, as caffeine, ephedrine, or especially methamphetamine or amphetamine. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of speed

First appearance:

before 900

One of the 4% oldest English words

before 900; 1965-70 for def 6; (noun) Middle English spede good luck, prosperity, rapidity, Old English spēd; cognate with Dutch spoed, Old High German spōt; akin to Old English spōwan to prosper, succeed; (v.) Middle English speden to succeed, prosper, go with speed, Old English spēdan to succeed, prosper; cognate with Old Saxon spōdian, Old High German spuoten

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Speed

speed popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 98% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between «mom» and «screwdriver».

Synonyms for speed

verb speed

• advance — To advance means to move forward, often in order to attack someone.
• anesthetize — to cause anesthesia in; give an anesthetic to
• anesthetized — to render physically insensible, as by an anesthetic.
• aviate — to pilot or fly in an aircraft
• ballyhooed — a clamorous and vigorous attempt to win customers or advance any cause; blatant advertising or publicity.

noun speed

• alacrity — If you do something with alacrity, you do it quickly and eagerly.
• amphetamine — Amphetamine is a drug which increases people’s energy, makes them excited, and reduces their desire for food.
• analeptic — (of a drug, etc) stimulating the central nervous system
• bennies — Benzedrine, especially in tablet form.
• benny — an amphetamine tablet, esp benzedrine: a stimulant

adj speed

• lickety-split — at great speed; rapidly: to travel lickety-split.

Antonyms for speed

verb speed

• bogged — wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.
• bogging — filthy; covered in dirt and grime
• bring up the rear — to be at the back in a procession, race, etc
• bum around — If you bum around, you go from place to place without any particular destination, either for enjoyment or because you have nothing else to do.
• choke off — To choke off financial growth means to restrict or control the rate at which a country’s economy can grow.

noun speed

• cooling-off period — A cooling-off period is an agreed period of time during which two sides with opposing views try to resolve a dispute before taking any serious action.
• cunctation — delay
• delay — If you delay doing something, you do not do it immediately or at the planned or expected time, but you leave it until later.
• demurral — the act or an instance of demurring
• hold-up — to have or keep in the hand; keep fast; grasp: She held the purse in her right hand. He held the child’s hand in his.

Top questions with speed

• what is the speed of light?
• how fast is the speed of light?
• what is the speed of sound?
• what is speed?
• what is my internet speed?
• how fast is the speed of sound?
• how to speed up ipad?
• what is the difference between speed and velocity?
• how to speed up metabolism?
• what my speed?
• how to play speed?
• how do enzymes speed up chemical reactions?
• what is my speed?
• how to check internet speed?
• how to speed up your metabolism?

See also

• All definitions of speed
• Synonyms for speed
• Antonyms for speed
• Related words to speed
• Sentences with the word speed
• speed pronunciation
• The plural of speed

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