merge
Americanverb (used with object)
-
merges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
merged,
past participle, past
-
merging
present participle
-
to cause to combine or coalesce; unite.
- Synonyms:
- consolidate, amalgamate
-
to combine, blend, or unite gradually so as to blur the individuality or individual identity of.
They voted to merge the two branch offices into a single unit.
- Synonyms:
- consolidate, amalgamate
verb (used without object)
-
merges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
merged,
past participle, past
-
merging
present participle
-
to become combined, united, swallowed up, or absorbed; lose identity by uniting or blending (often followed by in orinto ).
This stream merges into the river up ahead.
- Synonyms:
- consolidate, amalgamate
-
to combine or unite into a single enterprise, organization, body, etc..
The two firms merged last year.
verb
-
to meet and join or cause to meet and join
-
to blend or cause to blend; fuse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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mergencenoun
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remergeverb
-
demergeverb (used with object)
-
unmergeverb (used with object)
-
antimergingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mergesimple
-
mergessimple
-
have mergedperfect
-
has mergedperfect
-
am mergingprogressive
-
are mergingprogressive
-
is mergingprogressive
-
have been mergingperfect progressive
-
has been mergingperfect progressive
Past
-
mergedsimple
-
had mergedperfect
-
was mergingprogressive
-
were mergingprogressive
-
had been mergingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of merge
First recorded in 1630–40, merge is from the Latin word mergere to dip, immerse, plunge into water
Explanation
The verb merge means to seamlessly join something. For example, when you merge onto the highway, you need to smoothly join the traffic, forgetting everything you learned riding the bumper cars at the fair. If two or more things become one, they merge. If your favorite deli, The Cheese Stop, merges with a sandwich shop called Chez Lui, the two restaurants might also merge their names, becoming Chez Cheese. You can also use merge when things only appear to blend. You know it's time to go to sleep when the words in your book begin to merge together.
Vocabulary lists containing merge
"Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez
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Ghost Boys
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Business, List 3
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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:
Banks would increase loan rates, they’d cut back on riskier lending, and they’d merge to save costs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
The show will merge not only the cultural resonance of the two in Mexican American culture, but also unite the sounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
"People were more focused on the classical behavior of black holes," said Giddings, referring to those massive voids in spacetime, areas of extreme gravity that can eat whole stars, grow, merge.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
After all, Anderson’s most fascinating ideas merge the immersive structure of gaming with the spectacle of filmmaking, and he’s one of the few filmmakers who has successfully pulled off such an audacious combination.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
He stood up, pushing against the chimney, trying to merge with it.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Saramago elevates the quest of his menial protagonist through lofty narration, which merges with Senhor José’s own reflections in the journal he begins to keep.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
After confirming the journey on a touchscreen, the vehicle merges into Beijing's dense traffic, navigating buses, cyclists, scooters and pedestrians with little hesitation.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Ouster’s technology gives technology developers a single sensing option that merges camera-level tech with lidar.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
This performance increase was achieved through Apple’s new Fusion Architecture, which merges two silicon dies into a single system on a chip.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 4, 2026
I settle into the passenger seat and cue up my playlist while Abby merges onto the highway.
From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli
Woodwork and Freddie will be merged into a single Grindr Health user experience, Arison said, though he added that the company was still figuring out branding details.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The oversight board at Paramount adds a new layer of uncertainty as to how the two news divisions will operate in the merged company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Though Ellison previously indicated the merged company would keep its headquarters in California for the foreseeable future, Bonta clarified that this commitment was not written into the legal agreement.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Additionally, CNN reported, it will be “financed with the help of sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi that will indirectly own just under a 50-percent equity stake in the merged Paramount–WBD.”
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2026
Riemann merged projective geometry with the complex numbers, and all of a sudden lines became circles, circles became lines, and zero and infinity became the poles on a globe full of numbers.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
But rebuilding after the recent departures is likely to require landing high-profile hires or, potentially, merging with a competitor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Acme was filmed right as the steeply indebted Warner Bros. was merging with Zaslav’s Discovery Inc.; it then fell prey to the new CEO’s scythe.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
He told the conference: "We discovered what we think is a black hole merging with a massive companion star, shredding it into a disk that feeds the black hole. It's a rare and awe-inspiring phenomenon."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
"The reason why they're so popular - certainly with pagan ceremonies - the solar eclipse is thought of as a merging of the sun and the moon."
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The warm, soft metal merging with my skin.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
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.
