assemblage

American  

[uh-sem-blij, a-sahn-blazh] / əˈsɛm blɪdʒ, a sɑ̃ˈblaʒ /

noun

1. a group of persons or things gathered or collected; an assembly; collection; aggregate.

2. the act of assembling; state of being assembled.

3. Fine Arts.

   1. a sculptural technique of organizing or composing into a unified whole a group of unrelated and often fragmentary or discarded objects.

   2. a work of art produced by this technique.

4. Archaeology. the aggregate of artifacts and other remains found on a site, considered as material evidence in support of a theory concerning the culture or cultures inhabiting it.

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assemblage British  

/ əˈsɛmblɪdʒ /

noun

1. a number of things or persons assembled together; collection; assembly

2. a list of dishes served at a meal or the dishes themselves

3. the act or process of assembling or the state of being assembled

4. a three-dimensional work of art that combines various objects into an integrated whole

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assemblage Scientific  

/ ə-sĕm′blĭj /

1. A collection of artifacts from a single datable component of an archaeological site. Depending on the site and culture, an assemblage may be associated with a single limited activity, as with stone tools found at a butchering site, or may reflect a broad range of cultural life, as with artifacts that are found in a communal living site.

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Other Word Forms

• reassemblage
  noun
• subassemblage
  noun

Etymology

Origin of assemblage

From French, dating back to 1695–1705; see origin at assemble, -age

Explanation

An assemblage is a bunch of parts, pieces, or people collected together into an organized group, always for some specific purpose. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington DC to hundreds of thousands of citizens — an assemblage of people who all wanted to end racism. A computer is an assemblage of wires and microchips. An artist who makes sculptures from trash creates assemblages of recycled materials. The word assemblage is related to assembly — which sometimes refers to a gathering in the gymnasium that you’d like to skip.

Example Sentences

The Noah Purifoy Outdoor Museum of Assemblage Art was established in 1999 to preserve and showcase the inventive sculpture of the late L.A. artist, who died at 86 in 2004.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2025

Today, over 3,000 people have attended Touchpoint, which is now held at the Assemblage Nomad in Manhattan.

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2018

The Assemblage is a coworking, co-living and community space that bills itself as “collaboration for the future of humanity.”

From Slate • Jul. 6, 2018

Assemblage time series reveal biodiversity change but not systematic loss.

From Nature • Oct. 31, 2017

He knew he was a Dinger, because he remembered how the Magnificent Assemblage stood and cheered him for five minutes.

From Knocking the Neighbors by Ade, George