accumulate

American  

[uh-kyoo-myuh-leyt] / əˈkyu myəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

accumulated, accumulating

1. to gather or collect, often in gradual degrees; heap up.

   to accumulate wealth.

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verb (used without object)

accumulated, accumulating

1. to gather into a heap, mass, cover, etc.; form a steadily increasing quantity.

   Snow accumulated in the driveway. His debts kept on accumulating.

accumulate British  

/ əˈkjuːmjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to gather or become gathered together in an increasing quantity; amass; collect

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Other Word Forms

• accumulable adjective
• accumulative adjective
• accumulatively adverb
• accumulativeness noun
• nonaccumulating adjective
• overaccumulate verb
• preaccumulate verb (used with object)
• reaccumulate verb
• superaccumulate verb (used without object)
• unaccumulable adjective
• unaccumulated adjective
• well-accumulated adjective

Etymology

Origin of accumulate

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin accumulātus “heaped up,” past participle of accumulāre “to heap up,” from ac- ac- + cumul(us) “heap” ( cumulus ( def. ) ) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix

Example Sentences

Interest costs are mounting as that debt accumulates.

From Barron's

Warning signs continue to mount for business development companies, as years of accumulated stress begin to show up in their portfolios of loans to midmarket borrowers.

From The Wall Street Journal

I ask him, clearing the coffee table of the pile of dirty dishes that always seem to accumulate on it.

From Literature

However, she accumulated speed on the downhill, and Clare could do nothing but shriek when she nearly bowled over the crying kits, overcorrected, then stopped a whisker away from colliding with the south fence.

From Literature

"The intense heat and radiation split the molecular hydrogen that makes up vast, interstellar gas clouds, quenching its potential to accumulate and turn into new stars."

From Science Daily

Related Words

• accrue
• acquire
• add to
• assemble
• collect
• compile
• concentrate
• expand
• gain
• grow
• hoard
• increase
• pile up
• rack up
• swell