aggregation
Americannoun
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a group or mass of distinct or varied things, persons, etc..
an aggregation of complainants.
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collection into an unorganized whole.
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the state of being so collected.
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Biology, Ecology. a group of organisms of the same or different species living closely together but less integrated than a society.
noun
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the act or process of aggregating
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ecology dispersion in which the individuals of a species are closer together than if they were randomly dispersed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of aggregation
First recorded in 1540–50; from Medieval Latin aggregātiōn-, stem of aggregātiō “a flocking together, gathering”; see aggregate, -ion
Explanation
An aggregation is a collection, or the gathering of things together. Your baseball card collection might represent the aggregation of lots of different types of cards. Aggregation comes from the Latin ad, meaning to, and gregare, meaning herd. So the word was first used to literally mean to herd or to flock. Now it's just refers to anything herded together in a collection or assemblage. If you work in a lab, for example, you may be charged with the aggregation of samples prior to experimentation.
Vocabulary lists containing aggregation
The Jungle
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The Red Badge of Courage
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Fast Food Nation
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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.
The bull case: Aggregation networks will use the arbitrage window to build defensible positions, then graduate from tactical plays to structural alternatives.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025
The UC Irvine Tandem Genome Aggregation Database enables researchers to study how these mutations -- called tandem repeat expansions -- are connected to diseases, to better understand health disparities and to improve clinical diagnostics.
From Science Daily • Apr. 5, 2024
For its part, Southern California Edison said it was canceling $218 million in pandemic-accrued debt held by nearly 350,000 residential customers, including those who buy power indirectly through the Community Choice Aggregation program.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2023
Aggregation accounts exist across the political spectrum and for more benign topics, too, like Poorly Aged Things or Brands Getting Owned.
From The Verge • Apr. 28, 2022
Aggregation may be seen to occur very quickly if a piece of a leaf is immersed in a weak solution of carbonate of ammonia.
From Insectivorous Plants by Darwin, Charles
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.
