to come or bring together; collect or congregate
to fit or join together (the parts of something, such as a machine)
to assemble the parts of a kit
to run (a computer program) that converts a set of symbolic data, usually in the form of specific single-step instructions, into machine language
What does assemble mean? Assemble means to bring together in one place, as in I assembled all of the ingredients for a chocolate cake on the table. Assemble can also mean to put or fit things together, as in Ikea is known for selling furniture that you have to assemble. And assemble can mean to come together or meet up, as in The school staff assembled for a meeting. When used generally, assemble can be used as a synonym for words such as gather, collect, and amass. When used specifically, assemble often means gathering things to arrange them in a proper order or placement, as when you assemble all the parts to build a computer. Alternatively, assemble can mean to put things or parts together. This meaning is often used when referring to building or making something, as in Shontel will need to assemble several bookshelves using only a box of wooden planks. In this sense, assemble is often used to refer to fitting manufactured parts together to make a final product or device. For example, a person would assemble a Lego brick set by snapping the parts together. Both assembly and assemblage are used to refer to something that has been assembled, as in The president spoke to an assembly of world leaders. Example: She assembled a team of scientists so they could all work together on the secret project.
See gather. See manufacture.
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Old French assembler, from Vulgar Latin assimulāre (unrecorded) “to bring together,” from Latin as- as- + simul “together” ( cf. simultaneous) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
First recorded in 1820–30; from French, past participle of assembler; see assemble
To assemble means to bring together, as in people or parts. The volunteers assembled to assemble the bikes for the needy kids. The U.S. Constitution guarantees in something in the Bill of Rights called "the right of assembly." This means that people are allowed to come together for any purpose they chose. In countries without this right, groups who assemble can be disbanded with the idea that they may be assembling a revolution.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Individual molecules assemble into larger bundles, which then form the fibers that support the skin.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
You have asserted your core First Amendment rights to speak, assemble, associate—to bear witness as a democratic check on an autocratic regime.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026
The sheer amount of music to arrange and assemble for this was vast and demanding, and they got to all of it from 1996’s “Bottle Rocket” to the present.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The Everett building was used to assemble the Boeing 787 Dreamliner before Boeing shifted the operation to South Carolina.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
They’d spent long days slogging through the snow, freezing nights in whatever rudimentary shelter they could assemble or in the deserted huts of whaling camps when they were lucky enough to come across them.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
But moments after taking off for a double assemblé to the left — a jump in which the legs assemble, or meet in the air — things went terribly wrong.
From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
She loved "le jeu, les visites, les assemblés, les cadeaux, et les promenades, en un mot toutes les choses de plasir," and wished to marry to get free from the trammels of her home.
From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
He sits down to read or assembles more hunting equipment.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 6, 2026
The island is home to hardware production giants TSMC, which turns Nvidia's cutting-edge designs into silicon components, and Foxconn, which assembles the processors to make data centre servers.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
Perry’s tangled love for her mother finds full expression in the film’s final act, in which she assembles musicians and backing vocalists to flesh out “What Lies With You,” written after her mother’s death.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
They want the gathering to feel casual, spontaneous — the sort of event where everyone simply appears with something charming and the table somehow assembles itself.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
The man behind the counter flips and assembles burgers at lightning speed, catering to the few but anxious stragglers.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
It contains cells that detect light and convert it into electrical signals, which are then sent to the brain and assembled into the images we see.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
A prototype was assembled in a garage in early 2023, with seven aircraft then built in just three weeks.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Thursday’s is the first report based on research assembled using millions of de-identified interactions people around the world made with Google AI tools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The club's fans had been buzzing since his arrival, with many of the squad assembled this summer by Defoe and director of football Jody Brown joining Woking because of the former England striker.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The grim news was digested in silence by the assembled creatures.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
It might be assembling more from components stored in underground bases, but the production facilities where engines for the missiles were built have been destroyed, said Fabian Hinz, an independent missile expert.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Today, the prime minister is assembling what Rayner calls "a pride of mayors" among others for a meeting of what is known as the National Economic Council at the new No10 North in Manchester.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
As detectors become larger, manufacturing, assembling, and reading out millions of individual components can become a major technological and financial bottleneck.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Even so, it is the act of assembling disparate icons and references into resonant wholes that affords Saar’s sculptures and tableaux their personal and political import.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
While American officials knew that Soviet troops had already landed on Cuba to help Castro's government, they had no idea that Khrushchev was quietly assembling a nuclear arsenal on the Caribbean island.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
