accelerant

See also: accélérant

English edit

WOTD – 12 January 2021

Etymology edit

From accelerate +‎ -ant (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs, or forming adjectives with senses of being prone or tending to do the actions of verbs).^[1]

Pronunciation edit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛləɹ(ə)nt/, /æk-/
(General American) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛləɹənt/, /æk-/
Audio (RP) (file)
Hyphenation: ac‧cel‧er‧ant

Noun edit

accelerant (plural accelerants)

(chemistry) Any substance that can bond or mix with, or disturb, another substance and cause an increase in the speed of a natural or artificial chemical process.
1. In the context of fire protection, a substance that accelerates the development of a fire, especially some hydrocarbon-based fuel used to spread a fire caused by arson.
  - 2010 September 25, William Glaberson, “Accelerant Was on Girls’ Beds, Witness Tells a Connecticut Jury”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:
    Accelerant was poured across the beds where the two daughters of a family in Cheshire, Conn., had been tied before a fire during a home invasion in 2007, a fire investigator told jurors on Friday.
2. A substance used to catalyze the vulcanization of rubber.
(figurative) Something that speeds up a process or the uptake of something else.
- 2017 August 16, Laura Hudson, “Using YouTube as an Accelerant for Video Games”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Hello Neighbor’s experience reflects the rise of video sites like YouTube as an accelerant for the video game business.
- 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2019:
  [Mike] Skinner can be credited with pouring lots of accelerant on pop in his time. In his absence, Caribbean-derived UK bass music became the de facto sound of British youth.