Pace

How to spell pace

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce pace

What does pace mean?

1. nounThe speed at which someone or something moves or progresses, or a single step in walking or running.
2. verbTo walk back and forth, or to regulate the speed of an activity.

Pace in a sentence

• noun

  The runners set a steady pace for the first mile.

• verb

  He began to pace the corridor while waiting for the news.

• noun

  The project moved at a slow pace because of budget delays.

• verb

  You should pace yourself during the long exam.

Where does pace come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The everyday word comes from the Latin passus, meaning 'a step' or 'a stride', which itself came from pandere, a verb meaning 'to stretch out' (as in stretching the legs while walking). Roman soldiers measured distance in paces, and the unit later fed into the English measure of a single step taken. The word travelled into English through Old French pas during the 1200s, keeping the sense of a step and broadening into the idea of speed or rate of movement. A separate and more scholarly use, the Latin preposition pace meaning 'with due respect to', is a completely different word: it is the ablative form of pax, meaning 'peace', and is used in formal writing to politely register disagreement. Although they are spelled identically, the two senses come from unrelated Latin roots, which is why the courteous 'pace' is sounded quite differently.

How the word is built

• pace (from Latin passus: a step, a stride)