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.

---

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

---

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

It said its aggregate initial lease commitment is about $12.3 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

“S&P 500 shorts are particularly vulnerable, with the aggregate short book completely offside and average per-position losses approaching 4%,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

Parkes made his first-team debut in 1966 and helped Wolves reach the Uefa Cup final in 1972, losing on aggregate to Tottenham Hotspur.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Liverpool then won the second leg 3-2, advancing 13-2 on aggregate.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 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

Such cells might eventually be given to people preventively, before those damaging aggregates begin accumulating.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

When the grid operates normally, it aggregates the batteries to feed electricity back to the system during periods of peak demand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Investors are a little nervous in part because the deal isn’t for aggregates, a component in cement manufacturing.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

Martin Marietta’s main aggregates business focuses on heavy materials like crushed stone and has posted strong financial results for years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 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

Then she aggregated them over the six-month annualized change.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

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

Estimates aggregated by Bloomberg average closer to 400,000.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

In the future, smaller retail media networks’ data could increasingly get aggregated through partnerships or networks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026

Activity aggregated over many markets gets chunked into the economy.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

At best, they offer marginal gains in aggregating information, telling us what a group of traders thinks might happen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026

But here’s the critical distinction: These publicly traded companies benefit from the shortage itself — not from the temporary arbitrage window created by aggregating idle distributed capacity.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 3, 2025

Companies such as Zillow Rentals and CoStar’s Apartments.com have been successful in democratizing access to listings by aggregating the supply in one location.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2025

The prosecution of the "post-office plan" of collection was continued, and by September, 1860, response had been had from 1,118 postmasters, contributions received aggregating $4,179.56.

From History of the Washington National Monument and of the Washington National Monument Society by Frederick Loviad Harvey

Related Words

• accumulated
• combined
• corporate
• cumulative