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Synonyms

accumulate

American

[uh-kyoo-myuh-leyt] / əˈkju mjəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

to gather or collect, often in gradual degrees; heap up.

to accumulate wealth.

verb (used without object)

to gather into a heap, mass, cover, etc.; form a steadily increasing quantity.

Snow accumulated in the driveway. His debts kept on accumulating.

accumulate British

/ əˈkjuːmjʊˌleɪt /

verb

to gather or become gathered together in an increasing quantity; amass; collect

"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

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Conjugated Forms

Present

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Etymology

Origin of accumulate

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin accumulātus “heaped up,” past participle of accumulāre “to heap up,” from ac- ac- + cumul(us) “heap” ( see cumulus ( def. )) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix

Explanation

To accumulate means to gather, usually in large quantities. Let's hope your boyfriend is not the type to accumulate girlfriends. The root of accumulate is cumulus which means "mound" or "heap." You might have heard of cumulus clouds, those big fluffy clouds that look like giant piles of whipped cream. Think of these heaping helpings of clouds when you think of accumulate. The money in your savings account accumulates interest, though these days you won't accumulate much wealth that way! Police accumulate evidence until they have enough to charge someone with a crime.

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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:

accumulate accumulates accumulated accumulating

Reiterating an accumulate rating on the stock, Filius tells clients in a note that Netwealth’s incremental investment into fiscal 2027 looks like a doubling down on its strategy to drive further long-term scale benefits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

High temperatures, light winds and a lack of rainfall can create ideal conditions for it to accumulate in the atmosphere.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

However, the new study, published in Ecological Entomology, the journal of the Royal Entomological Society, shows that different bee species accumulate toxic metals in very different ways, with bumblebees appearing to be especially vulnerable.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

He also let medical bills accumulate in my name without telling me.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

To make a billion-dollar bet, you no longer needed to accumulate a billion dollars’ worth of actual mortgage loans.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

If treated right, peat accumulates "about a millimetre a year," Jones said.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

It accumulates as a sequence rather than arriving as a coup.

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2026

In this traditional view, low-density magma gradually accumulates within the crust, increasing pressure until the surrounding rock fractures, collapses, and ultimately erupts.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026

Barclays emphasizes that gold’s key structural drivers — U.S. consumer-price inflation and central-bank buying — are “slow-moving variables whose influence accumulates over time.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

Pascal went further than simply insisting on the authority of experience; he argued that our knowledge of nature is capable of endless progress because it is founded in experience, and experience accumulates over time.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

In theory, this is the kind of wall AI was built to break, by searching through the accumulated knowledge of science and uncovering possibilities no human researcher would have found.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

That’s a welcome development, because the housing market’s main problem is “a long-term structural deficit of housing that has accumulated over more than 10 years,” Berner said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

In Aviv’s view, Munro’s work accumulated power even as her family unraveled and her own unheroic passivity was exposed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

"A rage that has been accumulated in the youth for the past 10 years," she added.

From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026

Her hands stung where small scratches had accumulated.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Carbon that does become buried in seafloor sediments, by contrast, can remain locked away for millions of years, accumulating over vast stretches of time.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

“It was just the feeling of winning and accumulating money,” Lee said about the game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

The rate at which tectonic plates are moving past one another in Venezuela is similar to how fast seismic strain is accumulating on the San Andreas fault in California, Jones said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

The order of fixtures could be influential too; if the strongest teams play the weakest first that gives them a greater likelihood of accumulating six points.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

“Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.”

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023