gather
Americanverb (used with object)
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gathers,
present (3rd person singular)
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gathered,
past participle, past
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gathering
present participle
-
to bring together into one group, collection, or place.
to gather firewood; to gather the troops.
- Synonyms:
- hoard, garner, amass, accumulate
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to bring together or assemble from various places, sources, or people; collect gradually.
The college is gathering a faculty from all over the country.
- Synonyms:
- hoard, garner, amass, accumulate
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to serve as a center of attention for; attract.
A good football game always gathers a crowd.
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to pick or harvest (any crop or natural yield) from its place of growth or formation.
to gather fruit; to gather flowers.
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to pick up piece by piece.
Gather your toys from the floor.
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to pick or scoop up.
She gathered the crying child in her arms.
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to collect (as taxes, dues, money owed, etc.).
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to accumulate; increase.
The storm gathers force.
The car gathered speed.
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to take by selection from among other things; sort out; cull.
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to assemble or collect (one's energies or oneself ) as for an effort (often followed byup ).
He gathered up his strength for the hard job.
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to learn or conclude from observation; infer; deduce.
I gather that he is the real leader.
- Synonyms:
- understand, assume
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to wrap or draw around or close.
He gathered his scarf around his neck.
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to contract (the brow) into wrinkles.
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to draw (cloth) up on a thread in fine folds or puckers by means of even stitches.
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Bookbinding. to assemble (the printed sections of a book) in proper sequence for binding.
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Nautical. to gain (way) from a dead stop or extremely slow speed.
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Metalworking. to increase the sectional area of (stock) by any of various operations.
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Glassmaking. to accumulate or collect (molten glass) at the end of a tube for blowing, shaping, etc.
verb (used without object)
-
gathers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gathered,
past participle, past
-
gathering
present participle
-
to come together around a central point; assemble.
Let's gather round the fire and sing.
-
to collect or accumulate.
Clouds were gathering in the northeast.
- Synonyms:
- accrete
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to grow, as by accretion; increase.
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to become contracted into wrinkles, folds, creases, etc., as the brow or as cloth.
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to come to a head, as a sore in suppurating.
noun
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a drawing together; contraction.
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Often gathers. a fold or pucker, as in gathered cloth.
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an act or instance of gathering.
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an amount or number gathered, as during a harvest.
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Glassmaking. a mass of molten glass attached to the end of a punty.
idioms
verb
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to assemble or cause to assemble
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to collect or be collected gradually; muster
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(tr) to learn from information given; conclude or assume
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(tr) to pick or harvest (flowers, fruit, etc)
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(tr; foll by to or into) to clasp or embrace
the mother gathered the child into her arms
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(tr) to bring close (to) or wrap (around)
she gathered her shawl about her shoulders
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to increase or cause to increase gradually, as in force, speed, intensity, etc
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to contract (the brow) or (of the brow) to become contracted into wrinkles; knit
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(tr) to assemble (sections of a book) in the correct sequence for binding
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(tr) to collect by making a selection
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(tr) to prepare or make ready
to gather one's wits
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to draw (material) into a series of small tucks or folds by passing a thread through it and then pulling it tight
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(intr) (of a boil or other sore) to come to a head; form pus
noun
-
-
the act of gathering
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the amount gathered
-
-
a small fold in material, as made by a tightly pulled stitch; tuck
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printing an informal name for section
Synonym Usage
Gather, assemble, collect, muster, marshal imply bringing or drawing together. Gather expresses the general idea usually with no implication of arrangement: to gather seashells. Assemble is used of objects or facts brought together preparatory to arranging them: to assemble data for a report. Collect implies purposeful accumulation to form an ordered whole: to collect evidence. Muster, primarily a military term, suggests thoroughness in the process of collection: to muster all one's resources. Marshal, another term primarily military, suggests rigorously ordered, purposeful arrangement: to marshal facts for effective presentation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gatherernoun
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regatherverb
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pregatherverb (used without object)
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gatherableadjective
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ungatheredadjective
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well-gatheredadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gathersimple
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gatherssimple
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have gatheredperfect
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has gatheredperfect
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am gatheringprogressive
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are gatheringprogressive
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is gatheringprogressive
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have been gatheringperfect progressive
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has been gatheringperfect progressive
Past
-
gatheredsimple
-
had gatheredperfect
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was gatheringprogressive
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were gatheringprogressive
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had been gatheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gather
First recorded before 900; Middle English gaderen, Old English gaderian, derivative of geador “together,” akin to gæd “fellowship”; cf. together, good
Explanation
Gather is a verb with many related meanings, most involving drawing together or assembling something. You may gather your socks into the laundry bag, or you may gather your thoughts by making a list. Gather often is used to describe bringing people together for some purpose, like the students who gather in the hallway awaiting an announcement. Gather can also refer to an increase or gain, like when you gather speed and go faster on your bike. Gather can describe coming to a conclusion or an understanding. After listening to your brother's comments and watching him pack up his video games, you may gather that he isn't going to be around for dinner.
Vocabulary lists containing gather
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade 11)
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Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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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 team’s ambitious plans to gather ice-sheet data were stymied by storms, a rudder problem, a medical emergency and the threat of ice closing in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
A man jumps into the water as people gather along the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, France.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
This dearth of fun places to gather is nothing new in America, online or otherwise.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Young people gather around, recording the action on their cellphones as tinny, video game-like music emanates from a speaker.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Aw, Daisy,” I said as I dried my face on the towel, “corn doesn’t even grow that tall. If it did, you’d have to cut the stalks down with an axe to gather the ears.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Dew gathers on their skin and is channelled towards their mouths through microscopic grooves, while their tongues can also collect fog water condensed on plants, sand and rocks.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Soon a group of curious animals gathers to ask the pickle questions both practical and philosophical.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The observations confirmed that a young star's accretion rate, or the speed at which it gathers material, naturally slows as it ages.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
After returning from her final visit to Saudi Arabia, Korkejian wrote album opener “On My Own” — a piano ballad cradled by a quivering Mellotron as a full band gradually gathers around her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
During Purim, our congregation gathers at the synagogue to listen to the Megillah, the scroll that tells Esther’s story.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
After posing for individual promo portraits, they gathered for a group photo before singing an acapella version of the uptempo ballad “MHM” for social content.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Rescuers were later seen using excavators to comb through a mountain of scattered rubbish at the site as local residents gathered nearby.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Two years ago, in Buffalo, I gathered alongside a sizable crowd in a public park, all of us audibly pleading with nature as the eclipse arrived only to be muted by cloud cover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Civilians had reportedly gathered at the site for a meditation retreat to mark Buddhist Lent.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The blankets soaked through and water gathered in puddles beneath us.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
McCartney said passengers had completed the normal departure process on Saturday night, collecting their boarding passes and gathering at the gate before the flight was called off after more than two hours of delays.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
As she was gathering her thoughts, Sen. Tim Scott jumped in to say: “I think it’d be helpful for us to talk about the issues of tomorrow and not yesterday.”
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
As the writer and the actor spend time together, and the narrator tries to pry open some small window into M’s psyche, the process of gathering material is constantly being thwarted by M’s casual instructability.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Meanwhile, investors trim risk exposure to highly sensitive growth stocks ahead of pivotal megacap earnings, including Nvidia’s later this week, and the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole gathering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
When the Japanese prohibit Filipinos from gathering in groups, churches organize resistance meetings inside chapels under the guise of worship.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
