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
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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:
Postal Service to direct states to compile a list of citizens who are eligible to vote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 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
Index providers—the firms that compile market averages like the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, the Russell 1000 and so on—have been scurrying to accommodate these titanic deals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Bobby, dog tag entwined, managed to compile an even score, with two wins, two losses, and six draws, fretting afterward that “I didn’t do too well.”
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The editor then compiles the footage to be ready for the audience to watch the next day to record their reactions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The heatwave could be linked to 212 deaths in Spain between Sunday and Wednesday, according to estimates from the MoMo monitoring system, which compiles daily death statistics and compares them with historical records.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
The data came from the Geneva registry and the National Agency for Cancer Registration, which compiles information from cantonal cancer registries across Switzerland.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
The Census Bureau compiles its estimates from various government data sources.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 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
A report by the nation's ministry of culture, sport and tourism regarding the allegations was compiled in 2016 and made public last week after it was obtained by South Korean media organisation JTBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Compared with chemical dependencies, which have been well understood since before the first DSM was compiled in 1952, the framework for describing so-called behavioral addictions is extremely new, he and others said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
The advocates, including Digital Equity LA and the California Alliance for Digital Equity, compiled evidence to help commissioners determine whether the merger was in the public interest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
She and her colleagues compiled inventories, negotiated among rival claimants, and dispatched books and archives to Jewish communities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Huxley began with a well-reasoned argument about anatomical structure and how Charles had compiled his theory using such data as had never been used before.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
One of the difficulties in compiling this report was the analysis suffers from what the team refers to as the “omitted variables problem.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 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
Charlotin has been compiling a database of court documents containing AI hallucinations since April 2023.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
I am a scholar compiling the Book of Natasha.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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.
