velocity

UK/vəˈlɒsəti/US/vəˈlɑsəti/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,069 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: velocities

Velocity is speed in a stated direction. Escape velocity, high velocity, the velocity of the wind.

The direction is what separates it from speed: a car going round a roundabout at a steady speed is changing velocity the whole way, and that change is what acceleration measures. Escape velocity is the speed needed to leave a body's gravity.

Definitions of velocity

1nounvelocitySpeed in a stated direction.B2+
“The bullet leaves the gun at a very high velocity.”

velocity is a measure of motion.

Where it comes from

Latin velocitas comes from velox, swift.

Latin
vēlōcitās — speed
Middle French
vélocité
English, today
velocity

Built from

vēlōx · Latin — fast

From Middle French vélocité, from Latin vēlōcitās (“speed”), from vēlōx (“fast”), thus a a doublet of veloce.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Science & Space

Practise this word

velocity in the wild

The phase velocity of a wave is the speed of any wavefront, a surface of constant phase.
Phase velocity
The phase velocity of light waves is not a physically meaningful quantity and is not related to information transfer.
Phase velocity
The speed of light in vacuum is the same for all observers, no matter their relative velocity.
Speed of light
Although the term escape velocity is common, it is more accurately described as a speed than as a velocity because it is independent of direction.
Escape velocity
Escape speed varies with distance from the center of the primary body, as does the velocity of an object traveling under the gravitational influence of the primary.
Escape velocity

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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