Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A substance, such as a petroleum distillate, that is used as a catalyst, as in spreading an intentionally set fire.
from The Century Dictionary.
- That accelerates; accelerating.
- noun That which quickens; specifically, one of the nerves stimulation of which causes increased rapidity of the heart's action.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chemistry Any substance that can
bond ,mix , ordisturb another substance and cause anincrease in the speed of a natural or artificialchemical process. - noun A
substance thataccelerates thedevelopment of afire ; especially somepetroleum product used to spread an act ofarson - noun chemistry A substance used to
catalyze thevulcanization ofrubber
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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This would just remove an effective "accelerant" to further economic decline.
OpEdNews - Quicklink: Bob Herbert: Invitation to Disaster 2010
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During the past month, Mr. Ballmer and other Microsoft executives have repeatedly characterized buying Yahoo as just an "accelerant" to a broader online strategy.
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Can you really take two companies that are perceived as the slow-moving players in the online market, combine them, and make it an "accelerant," to your business, as you described it?
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Iraq experts in the intelligence community thought of the event as an "accelerant," as in, something that would continue the destruction.
03/14/2007 2007
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The use of some kind of accelerant, like gasoline or alcohol, seems to be indicated in the conflagrations; however, no traces of any accelerant have yet been found.
Eclipse Meyer, Stephenie 2007
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John, you're right that advertising is still a necessary "accelerant" for most companies -- the network is not efficient enough yet.
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Firefighters doing the best they can to douse the blaze that is, as you can clearly see here, appears to be fueled by some kind of accelerant, perhaps some kind of aviation fuel.
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Investigators determined that the fire had been set with some kind of accelerant, Brunicardi said.
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Investigators determined that the fire had been set with some kind of accelerant, Brunicardi said.
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Hallenbeck suspected there was some sort of "accelerant," noting that the fire was "fast burning."
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