Meaning of speed in English

speed

noun

/spiːd/ us

/spiːd/

speed noun (RATE OF MOVEMENT)

Add to word list Add to word list

B1 [ C or U ]

how fast something moves:

He was travelling at a speed of 90 mph.

The car has a top speed of 155 miles per hour.

You should lower/reduce your speed as you approach a junction.

On a clear, straight road you can gather/pick up speed.

He came off the road while driving his car round a bend at high/breakneck speed (= very fast).

There are speed restrictions (= controls on how fast traffic is allowed to move) on this part of the road.

an electric drill with two speeds (= rates at which it turns)

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

slowly

slowlyI got out of bed and walked slowly to the door.
slowGo slower! I can't keep up.
at a slow paceThey are easy hikes, done at a slow pace.
at a slow speedYou only have to hit a pedestrian at a slow speed to kill them.
at slow rateThe economy grew at a slower rate during the second half of the year.

See more results »

B2 [ U ]

very fast movement:

I get a real thrill from speed.

He put on a sudden burst of speed.

Both cars were travelling at speed (= very fast) when the accident happened.

[ U ]

how fast something happens:

We were surprised at the speed of the response to our enquiry.

It was the speed at which it all happened that shocked me.

She got through her work with speed (= quickly) and efficiency.

the speed of light/sound

the rate at which light or sound travels:

The speed of light is 300 million metres per second.

These planes travel at twice the speed of sound.

[ C ]

a gear :

a bicycle with ten speeds

a ten-speed bicycle

[ C ]

the rate at which a photographic film absorbs or reacts to light:

What speed film do I need for taking photographs indoors?

shutter speed

the length of time for which part of a camera is open to allow light to reach the film when a photograph is being taken:

a high/low shutter speed

More examplesFewer examples

The hummingbird beats its wings at great speed.
With this drill it's possible to adjust the speed of rotation.
The engine shuts off automatically when the desired speed is reached.
Slack off your speed as you approach the corner.
The police car drove past at a terrific speed.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Speed of motion

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Hurrying and doing things quickly

Fast and rapid

The engine & engine parts

Bicycles

Photography

speed noun (DRUG)

[ U ]

slang for amphetamine (= a drug that makes the mind or body more active):

She was on speed at the time.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Specific types of drug

See more results »

Grammar

Measurements

We use the nouns length, width, depth and height and the adjectives long, wide, deep and high to talk about area and size: …

Area: length, width, depth and height

We use the nouns length, width, depth and height and the adjectives long, wide, deep and high to talk about area and size: …

Weight and volume

We use the verb weigh to measure weight: …

Frequency, speed, time

We use many different expressions to describe frequency, speed and time. Here are some of them: …

Idiom

up to speed

speed

verb [ I or T, usually + adv/prep ]

/spiːd/ us

/spiːd/

sped or speeded | sped or speeded

to (cause to) move, go, or happen fast:

The train sped along at over 120 miles per hour.

The actress then sped away/off in a waiting car.

We sped down the ski slopes.

This year is speeding by/past.

Ambulances sped the injured people (= moved them quickly) away from the scene.

The best thing you can do to speed your recovery (= make it quicker) is to rest.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to move fast

speedHe ran back to his car and sped off.
raceShe raced over and hugged me.
flyShe flew across the room just in time to stop the baby falling off the chair.
beltUK Traffic was belting along the motorway.
tearA fire truck came tearing down the road.
streakBullets streaked across the sky.

See more results »

be speeding

to be driving faster than you are legally allowed to do:

He was caught speeding.

More examplesFewer examples

O'er land and sea they sped.
The car pulled off and sped up the road.
The train sped through the station with a whoosh.
We are trying to speed investment in the area.
Four boys on motorbikes came speeding down the road.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Increasing and decreasing speed of motion

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

On the road: driving & operating road vehicles

Crime - general words

Phrasal verb

speed (something) up

(Definition of speed from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

speed | American Dictionary

speed

noun [ C/U ]

/spid/

Add to word list Add to word list

(a) rate at which something moves or happens:

[ C ] a speed of 25 miles per hour

[ U ] Both cars were traveling at high speed.

[ U ] They came racing down the hill at top speed (= as fast as they could go).

[ U ] The processing speed of my new computer is much faster.

[ C ] This electric drill has two speeds (= rates at which it turns).

physics

Speed is also the rate at which something travels, expressed as the number of meters in a second.

A speed is also a gear (= part that controls the rate at which a vehicle moves):

[ C ] I have a ten-speed bicycle.

speedily

adverb us

/ˈspi·dəl·i/

The error can be speedily corrected.

speed

verb [ I/T ]

/spid/

past tense and past participle sped us/sped/ speeded

to move, go, or happen fast, or to cause something to happen fast:

[ I ] The train sped along at over 120 miles per hour.

[ I ] This year seems to be speeding by/past.

[ T ] Ambulances sped the injured people (= moved them quickly) away from the scene.

Phrasal verb

speed up (something)

(Definition of speed from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

speed | Business English

speed

noun

/spiːd/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C or U ] IT, INTERNET

the rate at which a computer or an internet connection operates and provides information:

Increase the speed of your computer with our new software.

How do I verify my computer's CPU speed?

First you need to find out what your internet connection speed is.

up to speed

if you are up to speed with a subject or activity, you have all the latest information necessary to understand or do something well:

A few days training on the new computer system will get you up to speed.

Before we start the meeting I'm going to bring you up to speed with the latest developments.

(Definition of speed from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of speed

speed

We find that for zero or moderate surface tension the speed at which a drop or plume rises increases algebraically with time.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The role of flowcontrol valve and quick exhaust valve are to control the speed of piston.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

By knowing the remaining distance and other motion conditions, we only increase the speed if we can meet the terminal conditions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The reversal is supposed to start instantaneously and to run at exactly the same speed as the forward simulation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Recall that structural models of processing capacity also include the construct of processing speed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Empirical studies on the speed of convergence of neural network training using genetic algorithms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We used tasks that measure speed of information processing as well as tasks that measure non-speed related memory processes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The transitions in this region emerged with what appears as possibly unparalleled speed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Some values of the maximum speed of the vertical velocity inside and outside the front are also given in table 1.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, since these effects were not consistent across ages, whether co-referencing complexity alone is driving sentence-processing speed is unclear.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the present study, we presented audiotaped stories that varied in presentation speed (normal rate, storyteller rate, and slow rate) to each participant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Even high speed cutting of light metal alloys should be possible with close tolerances.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This way, it is possible to speed up the data transfer from one application to the other.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, we also construct maps which mix at various other slow speeds, with a more precise meaning of slow as given below.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In effect, though, these are no more than three different periodicities: different aspects of history are proceeding at different speeds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of speed

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.