accretion
an increase by natural growth or by gradual external addition; growth in size or extent.
the result of this process.
an added part; addition: The last part of the legend is a later accretion.
the growing together of separate parts into a single whole.
Law. increase of property by gradual natural additions, as of land by alluvion.
Origin of accretion
1Other words from accretion
- ac·cre·tive, ac·cre·tion·ar·y, adjective
- non·ac·cre·tion, noun
Words Nearby accretion
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use accretion in a sentence
Planet accretion also has gotten a boost from recent studies of distant stars.
“Pebble accretion really did revolutionize the way that people thought about planet formation,” says Katherine Kretke.
Anders Johansen, an astronomer at Lund Observatory, in Sweden, knows a lot about pebble accretion.
Nearly 35,000 customers in Virginia were without power because of ice accretion on power lines, mostly in Fauquier, Culpeper, Orange, Albemarle and Louisa counties.
Here’s how much snow and ice fell in D.C. region from Wednesday’s winter storm | Jason Samenow | December 17, 2020 | Washington PostExperimental tools are available, which combine the depth of ice accretion on trees with wind speed data, to predict the level of utility disruption.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess | Jeffrey Halverson | December 2, 2020 | Washington Post
It is the steady accretion of detail that may yet be the most damaging factor in the battle for British hearts and minds.
The powerful forces of gravity and magnetism channel matter into huge flattened spinning platters known as accretion disks.
The direction of polarization for a quasar is determined by the accretion disk surrounding it.
Their gravitational pull can draw in huge amounts of gas, which swirls in a thick donut-shaped pattern known as an accretion disk.
The accretion of interest groups is not a uniquely American problem.
The process of character building through accretion and elimination has been going on.
The Leaven in a Great City | Lillian William BettsAnd perhaps in the end the slopes were more laden by the smaller precipitations which deposited a daily accretion.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 | Charles Kenneth Howard-BuryHe was celebrated, like Solomon, for his wisdom and his might; and his name became the centre of a vast accretion of legends.
The Science of Fairy Tales | Edwin Sidney HartlandConnected with the size of larv, is the mode in which their accretion takes place.
An Introduction to Entomology: Vol. III (of 4) | William KirbyBy a principle of accretion, the second or third may be added to the first form, and the third to the second.
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 | Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
British Dictionary definitions for accretion
/ (əˈkriːʃən) /
any gradual increase in size, as through growth or external addition
something added, esp extraneously, to cause growth or an increase in size
the growing together of normally separate plant or animal parts
pathol
abnormal union or growing together of parts; adhesion
a mass of foreign matter collected in a cavity
law an increase in the share of a beneficiary in an estate, as when a co-beneficiary fails to take his share
astronomy the process in which matter under the influence of gravity is attracted to and increases the mass of a celestial body. The matter usually forms an accretion disc around the accreting object
geology the process in which a continent is enlarged by the tectonic movement and deformation of the earth's crust
Origin of accretion
1Derived forms of accretion
- accretive or accretionary, adjective
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
Scientific definitions for accretion
[ ə-krē′shən ]
Geology The gradual extension of land by natural forces, as in the addition of sand to a beach by ocean currents, or the extension of a floodplain through the deposition of sediments by repeated flooding.
Astronomy The accumulation of additional mass in a celestial object by the drawing together of interstellar gas and surrounding objects by gravity.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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