accumulate

[uh-kyoo-myuh-leyt]

See more synonyms for accumulate on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, ac·cu·mu·lat·ing.

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

verb (used without object), ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, ac·cu·mu·lat·ing.

to gather into a heap, mass, cover, etc.; form a steadily increasing quantity: Snow accumulated in the driveway. His debts kept on accumulating.

Origin of accumulate

1520–30; < Latin accumulātus heaped up (past participle of accumulāre), equivalent to ac- ac- + cumul(us) heap + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsac·cu·mu·la·ble, adjectivenon·ac·cu·mu·lat·ing, adjectiveo·ver·ac·cu·mu·late, verb, o·ver·ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, o·ver·ac·cu·mu·lat·ing.pre·ac·cu·mu·late, verb (used with object), pre·ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, pre·ac·cu·mu·lat·ing.re·ac·cu·mu·late, verb, re·ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, re·ac·cu·mu·lat·ing.su·per·ac·cu·mu·late, verb (used without object), su·per·ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, su·per·ac·cu·mu·lat·ing.un·ac·cu·mu·la·ble, adjectiveun·ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, adjectivewell-ac·cu·mu·lat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for accumulating

Contemporary Examples

Idiocies multiply in direct proportion to the accumulating legal rigidities.
Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans
Philip K. Howard
December 27, 2014
The scientific evidence on which he would base the decision was accumulating.
George Washington, the First Vaxxer
Tom Shachtman
October 5, 2014
You knew that where there's big money, there's always somebody that's pretty clever at accumulating some of it.
Bob Kurland, the First Player to Dunk, Was a Pioneer for Big Men
Kevin Fixler
March 21, 2014
But in the South, the utter lack of status had prevented black Southerners from accumulating wealth in the first place.
David's Bookclub: The Warmth of Other Suns
David Frum
May 20, 2013
Arkady Gaydamak, a Russian-Israeli oilman and financier, explained his elite view of accumulating wealth to me in 2005.
21st Century Cronyism: Quite a Profitable Game!
David Frum
March 18, 2013

Historical Examples

I watch them accumulating just as I watch the waves of the sea.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
She fancied every man a seducer, and every hour an hour of accumulating peril!
Beaux and Belles of England
Mary Robinson
All kinds of impressions, you see, had been accumulating, and they thronged like phantoms about me.
The Best Short Stories of 1915
Various
Some of those who are with us, and yet not of us, are accumulating wealth.
Broken Bread
Thomas Champness
There it goes on accumulating as a result of industry; but what then?
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 460
Various

British Dictionary definitions for accumulating

accumulate

verb

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

Derived Formsaccumulable, adjectiveaccumulative, adjectiveaccumulatively, adverbaccumulativeness, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Latin accumulātus, past participle of accumulāre to heap up, from cumulus a heap

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

Word Origin and History for accumulating

accumulate

v.

1520s, from Latin accumulatus, past participle of accumulare "to heap up" (see accumulation). Related: Accumulated; accumulating.

accumulate

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Related Words

Examples from the Web for accumulating

Contemporary Examples

Idiocies multiply in direct proportion to the accumulating legal rigidities.

The scientific evidence on which he would base the decision was accumulating.

You knew that where there's big money, there's always somebody that's pretty clever at accumulating some of it.

But in the South, the utter lack of status had prevented black Southerners from accumulating wealth in the first place.

Arkady Gaydamak, a Russian-Israeli oilman and financier, explained his elite view of accumulating wealth to me in 2005.

Historical Examples

I watch them accumulating just as I watch the waves of the sea.

She fancied every man a seducer, and every hour an hour of accumulating peril!

All kinds of impressions, you see, had been accumulating, and they thronged like phantoms about me.

Some of those who are with us, and yet not of us, are accumulating wealth.

There it goes on accumulating as a result of industry; but what then?

accumulate

Word Origin

Word Origin and History for accumulating

accumulate

v.

Origin of accumulate