hyperdrive

American  

[hahy-per-drahyv] / ˈhaɪ pərˌdraɪv /

noun

1. (in science fiction) a mode or function of a spaceship’s engine that enables it to travel at speeds faster than light, typically by moving through hyperspace.

   Sabotage caused the robot to accelerate the spacecraft into hyperdrive.

   In the movie, they had to activate the hyperdrive to keep their spaceship from falling into the sun.

2. overdrive.

   Monsoon is the season when all of India goes into sowing-planting-growing hyperdrive.

---

Etymology

Origin of hyperdrive

First recorded in 1950–55; hyper- ( def. ) + drive ( def. ), perhaps based on hyperspace ( def. ) and overdrive ( def. )

Example Sentences

The coalition’s work would put the development of enterprise software tools into hyperdrive, Huang said, helping speed the transformation of the world’s software-as-a-service industry into an agentic-AI-as-a-service industry.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026

Many gastrointestinal cancers grow uncontrollably when a mutation sets a key biological pathway that governs cell growth, called Wnt, on hyperdrive.

From Science Daily • Apr. 11, 2024

Lactate appears to send a signal through the receptor that kicks fat cell metabolism into hyperdrive, the team found.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 2, 2024

It’s been on hyperdrive since the Chiefs rallied to beat the Eagles for the Lombardi Trophy in February.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 19, 2023

The car was so quiet as they drove, like the Fornax ship in hyperdrive.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman