velocity

plural velocities

1. countableuncountablenatural sciencesA vector quantity that denotes the rate of change of position with respect to time, combining speed with a directional component.

   A car racing in a circle may retain the same speed while continually changing its velocity.

   4 more examples

   Usually, however, confluence is associated with an increase in air velocity and diffluence with a decrease. In the intermediate case, confluence is balanced by an increase in wind velocity and diffluence by a decrease in velocity.

   2004, Roger Barry, Richard Chorley, Roger G. Barry, Atmosphere, Weather and Climate, page 118

   Such angular distances imply undecelerated ejecta knot transverse velocities of 15,600 and 12,700 km/s respectively, assuming an explosion date ~1670 AD and a distance of 3.4 kpc.

   2015, Robert A. Fesen, Dan Milisavljevic, “An HST Survey of the Highest-Velocity Ejecta in Cassiopeia A”, in arXiv

   When an ultrasonic beam is fired at the microcannons, the emulsion evaporates, expanding rapidly into gas. This creates enough force to push the nanobullets out at velocities reaching several metres per second.

   2016 February 1, Tom Whipple, “Microcannon firing nanobullets: the future of targeted medicine”, in The Times

   By combining the data from multiple telescopes, astronomers determined the star’s position and velocity in space, allowing them to predict that it will exit the Milky Way at some point.

   2024 August 21, Ashley Strickland, “An unusual object is moving so fast it could escape the Milky Way. Scientists aren’t certain what it is”, in CNN

2. countableuncountableA rapidity of motion.

   The train was travelling at a slower velocity than usual.

   1 more example

   Over the winter-solid Roads, goes a great seething,— of mounted younger Gentlemen riding together by the dozens upon rented horses, Express Messengers in love with pure Velocity, Disgruntl'd Suitors with Pistols stuff'd in their Spatterdashes, seal'd Waggons not even a western Black-Boy would think of detaining.

   1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 39, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 395

   Synonyms: speed

3. countableuncountableThe rate of occurrence.
4. countableuncountableeconomicsThe number of times that an average unit of currency is spent during a specific period of time.
5. countableuncountablemusic hardware and softwareThe value corresponding to how hard a key is struck on a MIDI controller or keyboard.