accroître
/a.kʁwatʁ/
To step up (to increase speed or rate) in French is accroître. Wiktionary also lists augmenter.
Meaning: to increase speed or rate (verb)
Ways to say it
| French | IPA |
|---|---|
| accroître | /a.kʁwatʁ/ |
| augmenter | /oɡ.mɑ̃.te/ /ɔɡ.mɑ̃.te/ |
The verbs accroître and augmenter are used to express increasing a speed or a rate. In informal conversation, you can use assurer to mean stepping up or making sure things are under control. If you want to tell someone to get moving or take action, you can use the colloquial phrase se bouger. There is also an informal expression, mettre les bouchées doubles, which refers to increasing one's efforts or working twice as hard.
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb accroître is irregular. In the third-person singular present tense, it can be spelled accroît with a circumflex or accroit using modern rectified spelling.
How do you pronounce it?
accroître is pronounced /a.kʁwatʁ/. It has 2 syllables.
Did you know?
- If you are told to mettre les bouchées doubles, you are literally being told to 'put in double the mouthfuls'.
- The English word 'accretion', used in geology to describe the gradual growth of a planet or star, shares the same Latin root as the French verb accroître.
- The circumflex in accroît is a visual fossil that marks where a letter 's' used to be written in Old French.
Examples in context
- Il faut faire un effort pour réussir dans cette entreprise.One must step up to succeed in this company.
- Il a réussi à se surpasser lors de cette compétition.He managed to step up during this competition.
- Je dois me mettre à niveau pour pouvoir suivre ce cours.I need to step up to be able to keep up with this course.
- Tu dois assurer lors de cette réunion importante.You need to step up during this important meeting.
- Arrête de procrastiner, bouge-toi et fais ce travail !Stop procrastinating, step up, and do this work!
- Tu es en retard sur ton projet, il est temps de mettre les bouchées doubles.You're behind on your project, it's time to step up your efforts.
- Il faut augmenter la cadence.We need to step up the pace.
- Nous devons accroître notre rythme de travail.We need to step up our pace of work.
- L'entreprise veut accroître sa production rapidement.The company wants to step up its production quickly.
- Il faut accroître la vitesse pour finir à temps.We must step up the speed to finish on time.
Example conversation
Gabriel and Léa are discussing a project deadline at work.
- GabrielLéa, nous sommes en retard sur le projet.Léa, we are behind on the project.
- LéaJe sais, nous devons accroître notre rythme.I know, we need to step up our pace.
- GabrielJe vais t'aider pour terminer plus vite.I will help you to finish faster.
- LéaMerci Gabriel, ça nous aidera beaucoup.Thanks Gabriel, that will help us a lot.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “step up” translations and entries accroître, augmenter, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries accroître, augmenter, CC BY-SA 4.0.
