aggregate

American  

[ag-ri-git, -geyt, ag-ri-geyt] / ˈæg rɪ gɪt, -ˌgeɪt, ˈæg rɪˌgeɪt /

adjective

1. formed by the conjunction or collection of particulars into a whole mass or sum; total; combined.

   the aggregate amount of indebtedness.

   Synonyms:

   whole, complete

2. Botany.

   1. (of a flower) formed of florets collected in a dense cluster but not cohering, as the daisy.

   2. (of a fruit) composed of a cluster of carpels belonging to the same flower, as the raspberry.

3. Geology. (of a rock) consisting of a mixture of minerals separable by mechanical means.

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noun

aggregates plural

1. a sum, mass, or assemblage of particulars; a total or gross amount.

   the aggregate of all past experience.

2. a cluster of soil particles: an aggregate larger than 250 micrometers in diameter, as the size of a small crumb, is technically regarded as a macroaggregate.

3. any of various loose, particulate materials, as sand, gravel, or pebbles, added to a cementing agent to make concrete, plaster, etc.

4. Mathematics. set.

verb (used with object)

aggregates, present (3rd person singular) aggregated, past participle, past aggregating present participle

1. to bring together; collect into one sum, mass, or body.

   Synonyms:

   gather, accumulate, amass, assemble

2. to amount to (the number of ).

   The guns captured will aggregate five or six hundred.

verb (used without object)

aggregates, present (3rd person singular) aggregated, past participle, past aggregating present participle

1. to combine and form a collection or mass.

idioms

1. in the aggregate, taken or considered as a whole.

   In the aggregate, our losses have been relatively small.

aggregate British  

/ ˈæɡrɪˌɡeɪtɪv /

adjective

1. formed of separate units collected into a whole; collective; corporate

2. (of fruits and flowers) composed of a dense cluster of carpels or florets

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noun

1. a sum or assemblage of many separate units; sum total

2. geology a rock, such as granite, consisting of a mixture of minerals

3. the sand and stone mixed with cement and water to make concrete

4. a group of closely related biotypes produced by apomixis, such as brambles, which are the Rubus fruticosus aggregate

5. taken as a whole

verb

1. to combine or be combined into a body, etc

2. (tr) to amount to (a number)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• aggregateness
  noun
• hyperaggregate
  verb
• reaggregate
  verb
• aggregable
  adjective
• aggregately
  adjective
• aggregative
  adjective
• aggregatory
  adjective
• subaggregate
  adjective
• unaggregated
  adjective
• aggregately
  adverb
• subaggregately
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• aggregates
  plural

Participles

• aggregating
  present
• aggregated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• aggregate
  simple
• aggregates
  simple
• have aggregated
  perfect
• has aggregated
  perfect
• am aggregating
  progressive
• are aggregating
  progressive
• is aggregating
  progressive
• have been aggregating
  perfect progressive
• has been aggregating
  perfect progressive

Past

• aggregated
  simple
• had aggregated
  perfect
• was aggregating
  progressive
• were aggregating
  progressive
• had been aggregating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will aggregate
  simple
• will have aggregated
  perfect
• will be aggregating
  progressive
• will have been aggregating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of aggregate

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin aggregātus (past participle of aggregāre ), equivalent to ag- ag- + greg- (stem of grex “flock”) + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

To aggregate is to collect many units into one. If you're writing a novel, you might create a character who is an aggregate of five or six real people. Aggregate comes from the Latin verb aggregare, which means to add to. As a verb it means to collect into a mass or whole. You can also use it as an adjective, as in your aggregate sales for February, March and April. It can also be a noun. The mountain of foam in bubble bath is an aggregate of small bubbles. If you plan to work in economics or business, expect to see the word aggregate quite a lot.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aggregate aggregates aggregated aggregating

Every criminal statute targets some category of conduct that causes grave harm in the aggregate.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

“While compacting the concrete aggregate base in advance of final street resurfacing, water began to pool at the surface toward the eastern edge of the work area,” the utility said in a news release.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Individuals would have to withdraw 50% of any balance over an aggregate $10 million between their traditional IRA, Roth IRA and defined-contribution plans.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

The rearrangement allowed Shankly to recall Toshack, who had been left out of the initial match, and he and Keegan tormented the Germans in a 3-0 victory, Liverpool subsequently winning 3-2 on aggregate.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Leukocytes become more actively phagocytic, release lysosomal enzymes, turn sticky, and aggregate together in dense masses, occluding capillaries and shutting off the blood supply.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Limestone serves some of the same end markets as aggregates.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

Arcosa’s stock jumped 7.9% to $146.57, while its construction-products arm shipped roughly 35 million tons of aggregates last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

The company’s construction-products arm—which includes 109 quarries and yards, nine asphalt plants and 19 terminals—recorded roughly 35 million tons of aggregates shipments last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

"When tubulin levels are low, as it has been found in Alzheimer's disease, microtubules are less abundant and Tau and alpha synuclein can form toxic aggregates," Lucas said.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026

If this was not the case, however, we could not see how the DNA molecules packed together to form the crystalline aggregates studied by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

And a State Department spokesperson said the material requested was the same aggregated and de-identified data which has been used for years in the fight against infectious diseases.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

BofA said aggregated credit- and debit-card data indicate “momentum remains intact, with airline spending returning to double-digit growth, supported by strength in spend per transaction.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney says they are likely to hit 420,000, better than the 409,000 consensus estimate aggregated by FactSet.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

“They are now widely produced, aggregated and interpreted, and no longer represent an area where Gallup can make its most distinctive contribution,” the spokesperson added.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026

Activity aggregated over many markets gets chunked into the economy.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Economics also assumes that we can learn something about our economy as a whole by analyzing and aggregating these decisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

And when aggregating a value-weighted portfolio of all common stocks over this 100-year time frame and calculating their performance, only 27.60% of stocks beat the market.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 2026

McTaggart sees real potential for AI in the administrative side of agency work — organizing offers, standardizing contracts, aggregating sales data.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026

Final degree classifications at Glasgow University are currently calculated by aggregating individual course marks.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026

Thus Chicago receives a large percentage of the earnings of some of the street railways, the amount aggregating more than $1,500,000 a year.

From Government in the United States National, State and Local by Garner, James Wilford

Related Words

• accumulated
• combined
• corporate
• cumulative