concatenate

American  

[kon-kat-n-eyt] / kɒnˈkæt nˌeɪt /

verb (used with object)

concatenated, concatenating

1. to link together; unite in a series or chain.

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adjective

1. linked together, as in a chain.

concatenate British  

/ kɒnˈkætɪˌneɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to link or join together, esp in a chain or series

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adjective

1. linked or joined together

Other Word Forms

• concatenator noun
• unconcatenated adjective
• unconcatenating adjective

Etymology

Origin of concatenate

1425–75; late Middle English (past participle) < Late Latin concatēnātus (past participle of concatēnāre ), equivalent to con- con- + Latin catēn ( a ) chain + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

Did you just link together several memories of your brother to form one longer story for his wedding toast? If so, you concatenated without knowing it! That’s because concatenate means to link things together to form a series or chain. In truth, the word concatenate is really a mouthful. It's hard to imagine anyone using it when they could use a synonym, such as link for the verb form and linked for the adjective form, just as well. But if you’re looking to impress with big words, try it out! To understand the situation in the Middle East, you have to concatenate the events of the past 50 years. You can tell others about that book you really love which is really a concatenate series of related poems.

Example Sentences

In any collection worth our admiration, the end and shape of one story should cast its shadow over the next, and so on, until they all concatenate and form a greater shape by book's end.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2015

Dark Horse Green Word that typewriters, revolver shots and police sirens would concatenate in Carnegie Hall, last week drew a crowd unaccustomed to entering Manhattan's most formal music house.

From Time Magazine Archive

But why did he desire to concatenate this with the old Logic?

From Logic, Inductive and Deductive by Minto, William

Pseudospores either solitary or concatenate, produced on the tips of generally short threads, which are either naked or contained in a perithecium, rarely compacted into a gelatinous mass, at length producing minute spores = Coniomycetes.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)

The cause of truth is not served by unwarranted assertions; and the facts are often so difficult to concatenate that dogmatism becomes an impertinence.

From Introduction to the Old Testament by McFadyen, John Edgar