accumulate

CEFRC1

/əˈkjuːmjʊˌleɪt/

verb · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To gather or increase gradually over time.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To gradually grow or increase in quantity or number.

Examples

  • Car windows accumulate frost on winter mornings.

  • We studied the Concordance to Shakespeare to accumulate examples of alliteration.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
2
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To take a higher degree at the same time with a lower degree, or at a shorter interval than usual.

  2. To heap up in a mass; to pile up; to collect or bring together (either literally or figuratively), often gradually and without active intent.

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Collected; accumulated.

More examples

In context

  • He wishes to accumulate a sum of money.

  • With her company going bankrupt, her divorce, and a gambling habit, debts started to accumulate so she had to sell her house.

  • Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, / Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

If you don't clean your room, dust will blank on the shelves over time.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

First attested c. 1487; from Middle English accumylaten, borrowed from Latin accumulātus, perfect passive participle of accumulō (“to amass, pile up”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), formed from ad (“to, towards, at”) + cumulō (“to heap”), from cumulus (“a heap”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French accumuler.