compile
Americanverb (used with object)
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compiles,
present (3rd person singular)
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compiled,
past participle, past
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compiling
present participle
-
to put together (documents, selections, or other materials) in one book or work.
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to make (a book, writing, or the like) of materials from various sources.
to compile an anthology of plays; to compile a graph showing changes in profit.
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to gather together.
to compile data.
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Computers. to translate (a computer program) from a high-level language into another language, usually machine language, using a compiler.
verb
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to make or compose from other materials or sources
to compile a list of names
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to collect or gather for a book, hobby, etc
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computing to create (a set of machine instructions) from a high-level programming language, using a compiler
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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precompileverb (used with object)
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recompileverb (used with object)
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uncompiledadjective
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well-compiledadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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compilesimple
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compilessimple
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have compiledperfect
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has compiledperfect
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am compilingprogressive
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are compilingprogressive
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is compilingprogressive
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have been compilingperfect progressive
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has been compilingperfect progressive
Past
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compiledsimple
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had compiledperfect
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was compilingprogressive
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were compilingprogressive
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had been compilingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of compile
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin compīlāre “to rob, pillage, steal from another writer,” equivalent to com- “with” + -pīlāre, perhaps akin to pīla “column, pier,” pīlāre “to fix firmly, plant” (hence, “pile up, accumulate”); see com-, pile 1
Explanation
When you compile something, like a recipe-book or a mix-tape, you put it together using things that already exist (recipes, songs). Poetry anthologies, greatest-hits albums, and world-record books are all compilations, because they're made up of things that were originally published or released somewhere else. If you want to skip out on soccer practice one day, you might compile of list of excuses.
Vocabulary lists containing compile
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #1
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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.
See Examples For:
P&G asked Strong, then the marketing director for Pampers, to compile a report on the private-label threat.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Sheinbaum vehemently denied any attempt to compile a blacklist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Now it analyzes 1,300 plans and more than 5 million participants’ accounts to compile its report.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
The family has already spent several thousand dollars on agencies to compile and process documents.
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
Several of the island’s censors would compile a brief news digest from other daily radio bulletins.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The three-year project led by specialist historians compiles "The Register of British Slave Traders", a list that details as many as "10,500 investors" in "Britain's near-250 year transatlantic slave trade" in African people.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The heart-wrenching effort to locate victims continues online, on a government website that compiles information on survivors and the missing, alongside numerous pleas for help.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
GasBuddy compiles a daily list of the ten cheapest gas stations by city and offers an interactive map that allows you to search up prices at every station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
The system compiles real time electronic health records from around the world and contains about 275 million de identified patient records.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026
When he’s finished, he compiles statistics and concludes confidently that a flea’s ears are in its back legs.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
In Gmail, Siri compiled a packing checklist from a school email.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
In the following discussion, taxable-equivalent yields are calculated using 2026 federal tax brackets, which have been compiled by NerdWallet, based on the Internal Revenue Service’s revision to the tax bracket ranges published last October.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
The report was compiled by an independent commission and involved input from more than 12,000 people including patients and clinicians.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
A report commissioned by McDonald’s, compiled by the firm Beacon Economics and Pepperdine University, surveyed some 1,200 workers in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
In 1947, Gardner had compiled all of his initial research into a secret memo titled "Special Analysis Report No. 1."
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
One resident, whose family friends had also stayed behind, began compiling a list of people she saw on videos published by the Ukrainian military and journalists.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
On the other hand, when it comes to compiling a list of mail voters for USPS, Avore noted that these states are actually better suited than others to share that list.
From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026
She said a federal immigration database the Department of Homeland Security was compiling to determine voter eligibility violated privacy laws.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
Everlab’s platform ingests and organizes documents and data from doctors, specialists and pathologists, compiling patient records that it augments with real-time data from users’ existing wearable devices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
She had been compiling it without my knowledge for the last year or so we were together.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
