archaic
as in bike
a two-wheeled vehicle that is propelled by the use of pedals and steered through the use of handlebars a museum with an interesting collection of 19th-century velocipedes

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of velocipede My next bike, the red-and-yellow Big Wheel, had a lot in common with a velocipede known as the penny-farthing, which was invented in the eighteen-seventies. The New Yorker, 23 May 2022 Oakland Pedal Tours offers free velocipede shuttles between breweries, which are also within walking distance. Lisa Herendeen, The Mercury News, 9 Sep. 2019 And whereas Snead might view the velocipede as a vehicle on which to multitask, a more cynical observer could find a metaphor here for the GM’s tenure. Greg Bishop, SI.com, 24 Oct. 2017 While there are competing claims for the first true motorcycle, this one is a Roper steam velocipede (or at least a very impressive re-creation). David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 13 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for velocipede
Noun
  • Foundational research from the 1980s and 1990s based on the 23-day Tour de France bike race set that limit at four to five times a person’s basal metabolic rate (BMR), defined as the energy required to maintain the body at rest.
    Jason Dinh, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Sour gummy worms, Kerry’s company on her bike, and the promise of a rest day revived me enough to finish the climb.
    Joan Meiners, AZCentral.com, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • My brain has always felt like a Ferrari with bicycle brakes — powerful, but hard to control.
    Paris Hilton, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2025
  • An e-bike is a bicycle with a motor that assists the rider to move faster while pedaling, and depending on which class of bike, with a throttle.
    Natalie Davies, Freep.com, 20 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Velocipede.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/velocipede. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.

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