aggregate
Americanadjective
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formed by the conjunction or collection of particulars into a whole mass or sum; total; combined.
the aggregate amount of indebtedness.
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Botany.
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(of a flower) formed of florets collected in a dense cluster but not cohering, as the daisy.
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(of a fruit) composed of a cluster of carpels belonging to the same flower, as the raspberry.
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Geology. (of a rock) consisting of a mixture of minerals separable by mechanical means.
noun
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aggregates
plural
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a sum, mass, or assemblage of particulars; a total or gross amount.
the aggregate of all past experience.
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a cluster of soil particles: an aggregate larger than 250 micrometers in diameter, as the size of a small crumb, is technically regarded as a macroaggregate.
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any of various loose, particulate materials, as sand, gravel, or pebbles, added to a cementing agent to make concrete, plaster, etc.
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Mathematics. set.
verb (used with object)
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aggregates,
present (3rd person singular)
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aggregated,
past participle, past
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aggregating
present participle
-
to bring together; collect into one sum, mass, or body.
- Synonyms:
- gather, accumulate, amass, assemble
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to amount to (the number of ).
The guns captured will aggregate five or six hundred.
verb (used without object)
-
aggregates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aggregated,
past participle, past
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aggregating
present participle
idioms
adjective
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formed of separate units collected into a whole; collective; corporate
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(of fruits and flowers) composed of a dense cluster of carpels or florets
noun
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a sum or assemblage of many separate units; sum total
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geology a rock, such as granite, consisting of a mixture of minerals
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the sand and stone mixed with cement and water to make concrete
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a group of closely related biotypes produced by apomixis, such as brambles, which are the Rubus fruticosus aggregate
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taken as a whole
verb
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to combine or be combined into a body, etc
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(tr) to amount to (a number)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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aggregatenessnoun
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hyperaggregateverb
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reaggregateverb
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aggregableadjective
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aggregatelyadjective
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aggregativeadjective
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aggregatoryadjective
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subaggregateadjective
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unaggregatedadjective
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aggregatelyadverb
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subaggregatelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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aggregatesimple
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aggregatessimple
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have aggregatedperfect
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has aggregatedperfect
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am aggregatingprogressive
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are aggregatingprogressive
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is aggregatingprogressive
-
have been aggregatingperfect progressive
-
has been aggregatingperfect progressive
Past
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aggregatedsimple
-
had aggregatedperfect
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was aggregatingprogressive
-
were aggregatingprogressive
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had been aggregatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of aggregate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin aggregātus (past participle of aggregāre ), equivalent to ag- ag- + greg- (stem of grex “flock”) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To aggregate is to collect many units into one. If you're writing a novel, you might create a character who is an aggregate of five or six real people. Aggregate comes from the Latin verb aggregare, which means to add to. As a verb it means to collect into a mass or whole. You can also use it as an adjective, as in your aggregate sales for February, March and April. It can also be a noun. The mountain of foam in bubble bath is an aggregate of small bubbles. If you plan to work in economics or business, expect to see the word aggregate quite a lot.
Vocabulary lists containing aggregate
Grade 10, List 2
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Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
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The Federalist Papers, No. 10 by James Madison
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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:
The aggregate balance masks risks: Shocks to Chinese finished-goods exports displace rival suppliers, with imports from non-China sources falling about 3% after four years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
As of the end of September, the plans’ estimated aggregate surplus increased by $6 billion, to $181 billion, compared with a $175 billion surplus at the end of August, Marsh says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
But this stable aggregate masks large cross-country offsetting movements.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Celtic then host Hearts - who Benfica beat 7-2 on aggregate in European qualifiers earlier this term - before facing Celta Vigo in another stiff Europa League test.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Of course, the Americas in aggregate are anything but small: their combined area is fully 76 percent that of Eurasia, and their human population as of A.D.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Beneath the aggregates, some unexpected trends have emerged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The Journal’s analysis omitted Tesla when calculating aggregates and trends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
But the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland tracks all the individual data points as they come in and aggregates them into a real-time inflation “nowcast.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
One possibility would be to engineer immune cells so they could target and break down amyloid and tau aggregates associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
If this was not the case, however, we could not see how the DNA molecules packed together to form the crystalline aggregates studied by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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San Jose Water Co., which serves about 1 million customers, disputed the group’s findings, saying it used “erroneously aggregated data to perform an analysis that grabs headlines.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
And a State Department spokesperson said the material requested was the same aggregated and de-identified data which has been used for years in the fight against infectious diseases.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Estimates aggregated by Bloomberg average closer to 400,000.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
BofA said aggregated credit- and debit-card data indicate “momentum remains intact, with airline spending returning to double-digit growth, supported by strength in spend per transaction.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Activity aggregated over many markets gets chunked into the economy.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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At best, they offer marginal gains in aggregating information, telling us what a group of traders thinks might happen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
McTaggart sees real potential for AI in the administrative side of agency work — organizing offers, standardizing contracts, aggregating sales data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
But here’s the critical distinction: These publicly traded companies benefit from the shortage itself — not from the temporary arbitrage window created by aggregating idle distributed capacity.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 3, 2025
Companies such as Zillow Rentals and CoStar’s Apartments.com have been successful in democratizing access to listings by aggregating the supply in one location.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2025
A total of all such vouchers for the biennium aggregating $3,597,982.84.
From Third Biennial Report of the Oregon State Highway Commission Covering the Period December 1st, 1916 to November 30th, 1918 by S. Benson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.