decelerate

Decelerate means to reduce the speed or rate at which something is happening.

When we talk about decelerating, we often mean bringing something to a slower pace. For example, if you're driving on the highway and someone suddenly hits the brakes, the car starts to decelerate - it's going from fast to slow quickly. You might also hear people talking about a project or plan that was moving too fast, but then they had to decelerate because of new information or changes in their goals. This means they slowed down the pace at which things were happening to be more careful and thoughtful. In some cases, you'll even see athletes use deceleration as a technique - for instance, a football player might decelerate quickly to change direction on the field.