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:
A separate team at Cornell University found that researchers were using AI to compile citations, and that it was inventing bogus research, with around 147,000 pieces of phantom research cited last year.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Artificial intelligence is also being used by bad actors for deepfake voice impersonations, more personalized “realistic” dialogue, and “data mashing” from various breaches to compile a hyperpersonalized profile of the would-be victim.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
States compile and maintain voter rolls, so only they have complete information about who is registered and casts ballots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
"The mind must not simply compile data -- as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can," the pontiff said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Mom decided that before she could get down to any serious painting, she needed to compile a thorough art reference library.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Li is the 40-year-old founder of Silicon Data, a startup that compiles indexes tracking the rental prices of Nvidia chips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
GasBuddy compiles a daily list of the ten cheapest gas stations by city and offers an interactive map that allows you to search up prices at every station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Robert Watts, who compiles the list, said this year's Rich List is "a tale of two exoduses".
From BBC ● May 15, 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
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
Shirin Ali compiled some of the election’s notable firsts from around the country.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
Analysts had estimated a net profit of 1.99 billion euros on revenue of 7.03 billion euros, according to an analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
To see the actual numbers, I used the long-term stock-market data compiled by Yale finance professor Robert Shiller, whose work on markets and valuations earned him the Nobel Prize in economics.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
The U.K. is expected to grow 1.3% this year and 1.2% next, according to an average of 18 bank and research forecasts compiled by the U.K.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
In 1947, Gardner had compiled all of his initial research into a secret memo titled "Special Analysis Report No. 1."
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
In the background, John was busy compiling a handover of the household admin.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
The Times examined the county’s restraining order process, compiling data from hundreds of thousands of cases, and interviewing dozens of domestic abuse and harassment victims, attorneys and victim service providers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
On the other hand, when it comes to compiling a list of mail voters for USPS, Avore noted that these states are actually better suited than others to share that list.
From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026
Hong Kong's main tech stock index plans to include 20 more companies as well as artificial intelligence and robotics themes to reflect changes in the industry, the firm compiling it has said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
On the train back to Maxwell Street, I wrote down what we had learned, compiling the facts into even columns.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
