congeries

[ kon-jeer-eez, kon-juh-reez ]

noun

, (used with a singular or plural verb)

1. a collection of items or parts in one mass; assemblage; aggregation, heap:

   From the airplane the town resembled a congeries of tiny boxes.

congeries

/ kɒnˈdʒɪəriːz /

noun

1. functioning as singular or plural a collection of objects or ideas; mass; heap

Word History and Origins

Origin of congeries¹

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin: “a heap, pile, collection,” equivalent to conger- (stem of congerere “to collect, heap up,” equivalent to con-, combining form + gerere “to bear, carry”) + -iēs abstract noun suffix; con-

Word History and Origins

Origin of congeries¹

C17: from Latin, from congerere to pile up, from gerere to carry

Example Sentences

My own are his pansy collages, tightly packed, edge-to-edge congeries of overlapping floral faces that give off a bright radiance as well as well as a sense of menacing, staring eyes.

From New York Times

Dyer’s thoughts are so restless that instead of corralling them in essays he scatters them among numbered sections, collaging “congeries of experiences, things and cultural artifacts that, for various reasons, have come to group themselves around me in a rough constellation during a phase of my life.”

From New York Times

Writing in the Nation, Thomas M. Disch dismissed Bright Room as part of the Public Theater’s “misbegotten aesthetic agenda” of promoting “avant-garde con artists and politically correct bores” and protested that Zillah, rather than being a dramatic character, is “a congeries of received left/activist opinions.”

From Slate

A novel loosely holding together distinct histories and temporalities effectively dramatizes a society that is a congeries of ancient and new, old lore and tradition bumping up against thoroughly modern ambitions and expertise.

From The New Yorker

A congeries of information-gathering techniques, including breaking and entering, stealing, and phone-hacking, are unpardonable and can never be undertaken directly by news organizations, but if others give news organizations the fruits of such labors it’s fine to publish them.

From The New Yorker