accrete

[ uh-kreet ]

verb (used without object)

, ac·cret·ed, ac·cret·ing.

1. to grow together; adhere (usually followed by to ).

verb (used with object)

, ac·cret·ed, ac·cret·ing.

1. to add, as by growth.

adjective

1. Botany. grown together.

accrete

/ əˈkriːt /

verb

1. to grow or cause to grow together; be or become fused
2. to make or become bigger, as by addition

Word History and Origins

Origin of accrete¹

First recorded in 1775–85; back formation from accretion

Word History and Origins

Origin of accrete¹

C18: back formation from accretion

Example Sentences

When multiple traumas occur ­together, they layer atop one another and accrete under pressure.

From Outside Online

As the planet accreted additional mass, the proportion of gas rose.

From Science News

If antistars existed within the plane of the Milky Way, where they could accrete lots of gas and dust made of ordinary matter, they could emit lots of gamma rays and be easy to spot.

From Science News

If, on the other hand, antistars tended to exist outside the plane of the galaxy, they would have much less opportunity to accrete normal matter and be much harder to find.

From Science News

No one has ever applied a single decent piece of cost-to-benefit analysis to any of this stuff, and they just accrete over time.

From Freakonomics

It will leave the ACA intact, as is, to accrete interest group support until reform becomes all-but-impossible.

From The Daily Beast

Why should trifles accrete to an ancient and hideous memory until it became a corporeal, living, malignant thing?

From Project Gutenberg

And as I continued to do this these fantasias began to accrete more and more about the figure of Derwent Rose.

From Project Gutenberg

The result of our education is to fill the mind little by little, as experiences accrete, with a stock of such ideas.

From Project Gutenberg