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Synonyms

accumulate

American

[uh-kyoo-myuh-leyt] / əˈkju mjəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

to gather or collect, often in gradual degrees; heap up.

to accumulate wealth.

verb (used without object)

to gather into a heap, mass, cover, etc.; form a steadily increasing quantity.

Snow accumulated in the driveway. His debts kept on accumulating.

accumulate British

/ əˈkjuːmjʊˌleɪt /

verb

to gather or become gathered together in an increasing quantity; amass; collect

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Etymology

Origin of accumulate

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin accumulātus “heaped up,” past participle of accumulāre “to heap up,” from ac- ac- + cumul(us) “heap” ( see cumulus ( def. )) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix

Explanation

To accumulate means to gather, usually in large quantities. Let's hope your boyfriend is not the type to accumulate girlfriends. The root of accumulate is cumulus which means "mound" or "heap." You might have heard of cumulus clouds, those big fluffy clouds that look like giant piles of whipped cream. Think of these heaping helpings of clouds when you think of accumulate. The money in your savings account accumulates interest, though these days you won't accumulate much wealth that way! Police accumulate evidence until they have enough to charge someone with a crime.

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Vocabulary lists containing accumulate

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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.

See Examples For:

accumulate accumulates accumulated accumulating

It will be able to accumulate enough water to provide 10 to 15 additional transits per day or about the same volume consumed by drinking water.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Stuffing is made for weeknight dinners precisely because it is so good at absorbing the odds and ends that accumulate by midweek, without requiring another trip to the supermarket.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

"When pesticides accumulate to the extent that the queen bee has eggs that are so loaded they may no longer develop properly, there could be a tipping point," Nicklisch said.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

“To the extent they accumulate rather than recycle supply back into the market, the bitcoin available to meet new demand tightens,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

Mrs. Shannon rolls all of us closer so we can watch the snow accumulate on the grass and trees.

From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

Banks themselves see their net interest margins improve, since the interest they earn on newly extended credit accumulates faster than the interest they are paying on customer deposits like savings accounts.

From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026

History accumulates faster than collective memory can accommodate it.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

Lenders may also offer the option to defer repayment until after graduation, but keep in mind that interest still accumulates during that time.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

In a presidency good news comes and goes but bad news accumulates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The word Maven comes from the Yiddish, and it means one who accumulates knowledge.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell

My $1,330.13 was, in other words, the accumulated sticker price of my particular trail through the stacks.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

The researchers think the buried layer formed when molten rock accumulated deep underground and gradually separated into different materials.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

Water "is the most important resource for operations," but "between April and August the accumulated rainfall deficit was 35.8 percent below the historical average," the canal's water manager Erick Cordoba told AFP.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Years of accumulated situations, decisions and circumstances that for a long time I chose to keep silent out of respect, out of loyalty, and above all, because it involved my own family.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

The matter in all the satellites and the planets themselves may have been originally distributed in the form of rings, which condensed and accumulated to form the present moons and planets.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

If you take advantage of that $0 bill and skip paying the following month, daily interest will keep accumulating, wiping out the interest savings you were attempting to gain.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

Women who had used hormone therapy had amyloid biomarker levels in their blood and spinal fluid that were consistent with less amyloid accumulating in the brain than women who did not use hormone therapy.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

Samples—and a certain stink—are accumulating at Quest Diagnostics thanks to the cyclosporiasis outbreak.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

“That leaves providers in this space of providing services and accruing and accumulating debt without any idea of when those contracts are going to be executed and when contracts will be paid,” Maceri said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

But I knew how ridiculous that was; three of us had spent the better part of a year accumulating the money.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023