accumulate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb get or gather together
    amass; roll up; compile; collect; hoard; pile up.
    • I am accumulating evidence for the man's unfaithfulness to his wife
    • She is amassing a lot of data for her thesis
    • She rolled up a small fortune
  2. verb collect or gather
    amass; gather; conglomerate; cumulate; pile up.
    • Journals are accumulating in my office
    • The work keeps piling up

WordNet

Ac*cu"mu*late transitive verb
Etymology
L. accumulatus, p. p. of accumulare; ad + cumulare to heap. See Cumulate.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Accumulated present participle & verbal noun Accumulating
Definitions
  1. To heap up in a mass; to pile up; to collect or bring together; to amass; as, to accumulate a sum of money. Syn. -- To collect; pile up; store; amass; gather; aggregate; heap together; hoard.
Ac*cu"mu*late intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To grow or increase in quantity or number; to increase greatly.
    Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. Goldsmith.
Ac*cu"mu*late adjective
Etymology
L. accumulatus, p. p. of accumulare.
Definitions
  1. Collected; accumulated. Bacon.

Webster 1913