Verb
slow down (third-person singular simple present slows down, present participle slowing down, simple past and past participle slowed down)
- (intransitive) To decelerate.
When approaching a bend in the road, slow down, and speed up after leaving it.
1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 7:When the long, hot journey drew to its end and the train slowed down for the last time, there was a stir in Jessamy’s carriage.
2021 October 6, Greg Morse, “A need for speed and the drive for 125”, in RAIL, number 941, page 48:Then came the war... and everything slowed down.
- (transitive) To reduce the velocity, speed, or tempo of something.
With a comfortable lead, the football team slowed down the tempo of the game.
2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. […] This set-up solves several problems […]. Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?
2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52:The elimination of vacuum-braked wagons would be slowed down, and the Western Region's flirtation with diesel-hydraulic locomotives was questioned.
- (transitive, intransitive, figuratively) To become less intense, enthusiastic, etc., usually with a positive connotation, implying that one is stripped of exaggerated or unnecessary eagerness.
Whoa, slow down there, bucko. Everyone will get a chance. Be patient.
Translations
to reduce speed
- Belarusian: запаво́льваць impf (zapavólʹvacʹ), спаво́льніць pf (spavólʹnicʹ)
- Catalan: alentir (ca), descelerar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 減速/减速 (zh) (jiǎnsù), 放慢 (zh) (fàngmàn)
- Czech: zpomalit (cs)
- Dutch: afremmen (nl)
- Finnish: hidastaa (fi)
- French: ralentir (fr), décélérer (fr)
- Georgian: შენელება (šeneleba)
- German: verlangsamen (de)
- Greek: επιβραδύνω (el) (epivradýno)
- Hungarian: lassít (hu), lelassít (hu)
- Ido: lenteskar (io) (intransitive), lentigar (io) (transitive)
- Italian: rallentare (it), decelerare (it)
- Japanese: 遅らせる (ja) (okuraseru)
- Khmer: បង្អែរបង្អង់ (bɑŋ’ae-bɑŋ’ɑŋ)
- Latin: tardō (la) (transitive), tardescō (intransitive), retardo
- Maori: whakapūhoi
- Polish: zwalniać (pl) impf, zwolnić (pl) pf, spowalniać (pl) impf, spowolnić (pl) pf
- Portuguese: desacelerar
- Romanian: încetini (ro), decelera (rare)
- Russian: замедля́ть (ru) impf (zamedljátʹ), заме́длить (ru) pf (zamédlitʹ) (transitive), снижа́ть ско́рость impf (snižátʹ skórostʹ), сни́зить ско́рость pf (snízitʹ skórostʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian: uspòriti (sh) pf, usporávati (sh) impf
- Spanish: desacelerar (es), decelerar (es), lentificar (es), enlentecer (es)
- Swedish: sakta (sv), bromsa (sv)
- Tagalog: bumagal
- Ukrainian: упові́льнювати impf (upovílʹnjuvaty), упові́льнити pf (upovílʹnyty), спові́льнювати impf (spovílʹnjuvaty), спові́льнити pf (spovílʹnyty)
- Welsh: arafu (cy), slofi
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