accrue
Americanverb (used without object)
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to happen or result as a natural growth, addition, etc.
- Synonyms:
- gather, collect, accumulate
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to be added as a matter of periodic gain or advantage, such as an employment benefit or interest on money.
Paid time off is accrued weekly, at a rate of one hour per week.
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Law. to become a present and enforceable right or demand.
verb
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to increase by growth or addition, esp (of capital) to increase by periodic addition of interest
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(often foll by to) to fall naturally (to); come into the possession (of); result (for)
-
law (of a right or demand) to become capable of being enforced
Usage
What does accrue mean? Accrue means to grow and accumulate naturally or to be added periodically. It’s especially used in the context of finance to refer to the growth of interest in an account. The past tense of accrue (accrued) can also be used as an adjective describing something that has been accumulated, as in accrued interest. The noun form of accrue is accrual. In law, accrue means to become a legal right. Example: A retirement fund allows money to accrue over the course of your career so that you can support yourself once you stop working.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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accruesimple
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accruessimple
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have accruedperfect
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has accruedperfect
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am accruingprogressive
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are accruingprogressive
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is accruingprogressive
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have been accruingperfect progressive
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has been accruingperfect progressive
Past
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accruedsimple
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had accruedperfect
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was accruingprogressive
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were accruingprogressive
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had been accruingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of accrue
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English acruen, acrewen, probably from Anglo-French accru(e), Middle French accreu(e), past participle of ac(c)resitre “to increase,” from Latin accrēscere “to grow”; see ac-, crew 1, accretion
Explanation
To accrue is to accumulate or to keep growing in value or size. If you can accrue enough extra credit to build up your grade, you won't have to take the final exam. Early forms of the word accrue were used as early as the 15th century with the meaning "to increase" or "to grow." Many modern uses for accrue involve money or finances, as when you accrue, or earn, interest on a bank account. You can accrue debt too, as interest grows on top of money owed until you pay it back. It's possible to accrue benefits over the time you work somewhere, or you can accrue demerits while you're misbehaving somewhere.
Vocabulary lists containing accrue
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
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Born a Crime
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The Road
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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:
That rises as employees accrue tenure, so workers who have been with Costco for 25 years or more receive a 9% contribution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Her words accrue and gain power through their spareness and clarity, and a level of character development that forges an easy intimacy with the reader.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Now 33, she said student loans have contributed to a decision to delay starting a family with her partner, because even though she wouldn't repay during maternity leave, the interest would still accrue.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Further advances are planned for the 2030s to exploit future upgrades to the LHC and accrue a dataset 15 times larger again.
From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026
He walked to the top of a rise and crouched and watched the day accrue.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
Interest accrues over time, which increases the loan balance.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
“History suggests that transformative technologies create enormous value—and much of that value accrues to the companies that build and deploy them, and to the investors who own them,” he wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
But much more than that, it is a story about how one individual, when he accrues enough wealth and influence and connections, can work the entire global system to his benefit for very nefarious purposes.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026
“Microsoft’s diversity of exposure to the software stack gives the company multiple ways to win depending on where the value accrues from AI adoption,” wrote Borges.
From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026
In England, if a bill is dishonoured by non-acceptance, a right of action at once accrues to the holder.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various
After the appeal was rejected, Carroll’s lawyers asked the district court to order the immediate disbursement of $5 million in damages, and nearly $800,000 in interest that had accrued since the verdict.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The ruling also requires payment of unspecified accrued interest.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
By 2025, “Monopoly Go!” had accrued $6 billion in lifetime in-app purchase revenue, becoming the fastest free mobile game to do so, according to app analytics firm Sensor Tower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
The proceeds of that offering are primarily going toward SpaceX’s bridge loan valued at $20 billion, which it took out to pay off debt accrued by xAI.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
The sum of it had almost entirely depleted the modest savings Ekon had accrued from his time at the temple, not that Koffi needed to know that, or anything else about his financial situation.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Those fees, which begin accruing in October, will cost Paramount an extra $7 million a day — until the purchase is finalized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Most of the wealth accruing to the companies monetizing it has been expropriated by them.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
StepStone has been accruing the liability on its financial statements, and the latest estimate of the cost of buying in the CH fee interest was $2.17 billion.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
His team have won six of eight matches, with United accruing more points in that period than any other side in the Premier League, including leaders Arsenal.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
The contract provided that all monies accruing to Malcolm X “shall be made payable by the agent to ‘Muhammad’s Mosque No. 2,’ ” but Malcolm X felt this was insufficient.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
