conglomerate
Americannoun
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anything composed of heterogeneous materials or elements.
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a corporation consisting of a number of subsidiary companies or divisions in a variety of unrelated industries, usually as a result of merger or acquisition.
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Geology. a rock consisting of pebbles or the like embedded in a finer cementing material; consolidated gravel.
adjective
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gathered into a rounded mass; consisting of parts so gathered; clustered.
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consisting of heterogeneous parts or elements.
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of or relating to a corporate conglomerate.
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Geology. of the nature of a conglomerate.
verb (used with object)
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to bring together into a cohering mass.
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to gather into a ball or rounded mass.
verb (used without object)
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to collect or cluster together.
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(of a company) to become part of or merge with a conglomerate.
noun
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a thing composed of heterogeneous elements; mass
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any coarse-grained sedimentary rock consisting of rounded fragments of rock embedded in a finer matrix Compare agglomerate
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a large corporation consisting of a group of companies dealing in widely diversified goods, services, etc
verb
adjective
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made up of heterogeneous elements; massed
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(of sedimentary rocks) consisting of rounded fragments within a finer matrix
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of conglomerate
1565–75; < Latin conglomerātus (past participle of conglomerāre ), equivalent to con- con- + glomer- (stem of glomus ) ball of yarn + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
A conglomerate is a group of things, especially companies, put together to form one. If you are rich enough to buy a TV network, a record company, several newspapers, and a radio station, you too can own a media conglomerate. The root of conglomerate is glomus, a Latin word for “ball.” So think of a conglomerate as a bunch of different things balled together. Before it came to describe giant corporations, a conglomerate was a rock formed from different kinds of minerals. Conglomerate can also be used as a verb — like when your media companies conglomerated successfully.
Vocabulary lists containing conglomerate
Power Prefix: con-
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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.
He would go on to win the America’s Cup in 1977 while expanding his father’s company into a modern multimedia conglomerate.
From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026
Berkshire Hathaway may have been waving a big yellow caution flag in front of investors this weekend, after the giant conglomerate revealed it’s sitting on its biggest-ever cash pile of $397 billion.
From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026
Abel not surprisingly forcefully rejected the idea that Berkshire, the world’s biggest conglomerate, should break up, saying the company benefits from diversification and the ability to shift capital between businesses as opportunities arise.
From Barron's • May 3, 2026
The government's tracking system relies on an amalgam of public and private information sifted, sorted and packaged by contractors that include Palantir Technologies, Deloitte, Japanese conglomerate NEC and smaller spyware specialists.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
“You had the whole McKay conglomerate in the soup today.”
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
