amass
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to gather for oneself; collect as one's own.
to amass a huge amount of money.
- Synonyms:
- accumulate
-
to collect into a mass or pile; gather.
He amassed his papers for his memoirs.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
(tr) to accumulate or collect (esp riches, etc)
-
to gather in a heap; bring together
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of amass
First recorded in 1475–85; from French amasser, equivalent to a- a- 5 ( def. ) + masse mass ( def. ) + -er, infinitive suffix
Explanation
Amass means bring together or assemble. It can be a real shock to enter a room and see your amassed friends shouting "Surprise!" Although the word amass should not be confused with "a mass," as in the thing you never want to hear has been found on your lung, they both derive from the Latin massa "lump." When you think about it, this makes sense. Whether soldiers or cancer cells, things that come together to form a whole — in this case, a tumor or an army — are amassed.
Vocabulary lists containing amass
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
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Promises to Keep
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A Very Large Expanse of Sea
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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.
Pratt does, however, have an edge on his competitors in one category: He knows how to amass attention.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
For context, it took Micron 37 years to amass its first $100 billion in market cap, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026
But the Gold Rush changed the meaning of the American dream: No longer content to amass wealth over time, speculators sought out immediate fortunes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Many clients nearing retirement are filled with anxiety about whether the nest eggs they worked so hard to amass will last.
From Barron's • Mar. 28, 2026
Even if I’d had the money for a new hard drive, it had taken me years to amass the music collection.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
