cumulative

American  

[kyoo-myuh-luh-tiv, -ley-tiv] / ˈkyu myə lə tɪv, -ˌleɪ tɪv /

adjective

1. increasing or growing by accumulation or successive additions.

   the cumulative effect of one rejection after another.

2. formed by or resulting from accumulation or the addition of successive parts or elements.

3. of or relating to interest or dividends that, if not paid when due, become a prior claim for payment in the future.

   cumulative preferred stocks.

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cumulative British  

/ ˈkjuːmjʊlətɪv /

adjective

1. growing in quantity, strength, or effect by successive additions or gradual steps

   cumulative pollution

2. gained by or resulting from a gradual building up

   cumulative benefits

3. finance

   1. (of preference shares) entitling the holder to receive any arrears of dividend before any dividend is distributed to ordinary shareholders

   2. (of dividends or interest) intended to be accumulated if not paid when due

4. statistics

   1. (of a frequency) including all values of a variable either below or above a specified value

   2. (of error) tending to increase as the sample size is increased

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cumulativeness
  noun
• uncumulative
  adjective
• cumulatively
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of cumulative

First recorded in 1595–1605; cumulate + -ive

Compare meaning

How does cumulative compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• cumulative vs. accumulative

Explanation

The adjective cumulative describes the total amount of something when it's all added together. Eating a single chocolate doughnut is fine, but the cumulative effect of eating them all day is that you'll probably feel sick. The origin of cumulative is helpful in remembering the meaning; it comes from the Latin cumulatus for "to heap." If something is cumulative, it is heaped together so it can be counted up to get a total number. The cumulative snowfall for the whole winter isn't just the amount of snow that fell in one month, but rather the number of inches that fell every month that winter to get the total, cumulative, amount.

Example Sentences

But that was a cumulative figure over 23 years, including budgets going all the way back to President George W. Bush.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026

The cumulative cost of almost one million Neet young people to the UK economy has been estimated to be £125bn per year, the review said.

From BBC • May 29, 2026

BloombergNEF says Fervo’s drilling costs per well have declined by about 29% with each doubling of cumulative wells drilled.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026

Its open-source Qwen AI model family is popular among developers, surpassing one billion cumulative downloads since its initial launch in 2023.

From Barron's • May 20, 2026

Either the anti-kemmer hormones or the veridicals evidently had a toxic effect on my non-Gethenian nervous system, and the effect was cumulative.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• aggregate
• increasing