agglutinate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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to unite or cause to adhere, as with glue.
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Immunology. to clump or cause to clump, as bacteria or blood platelets.
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Linguistics. to form by agglutination.
adjective
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united by or as by glue.
verb
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to adhere or cause to adhere, as with glue
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linguistics to combine or be combined by agglutination
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(tr) to cause (bacteria, red blood cells, etc) to clump together
adjective
Other Word Forms
- agglutinability noun
- agglutinable adjective
- agglutinant adjective
- interagglutinate verb (used without object)
- nonagglutinating adjective
Etymology
Origin of agglutinate
1535–45; < Latin agglūtinātus (past participle of agglūtināre ), equivalent to ag- ag- + glūtin- (stem of glūten glue) + -ātus -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The agglutinated heads represent “all her children,” she added — but also perhaps “her other selves.”
From New York Times
Ten feet square, it agglutinates irregularly alternating triangles of pink, scarlet and wine into a syncopated pattern that seems to shift and fizzle.
From New York Times
Ms. Humphries is best known for shimmering, burbling abstract paintings that agglutinate stenciled marks, typographical stutters, and deceptive spills and splashes that in fact result from careful composition.
From New York Times
These agglutinates accumulate over time and can make up 60 to 70 percent of mature regolith samples.
From Scientific American
It urges those who work in it to agglutinate and machinate.
From Economist
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
