accumulate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to collect or gather

   Rain accumulated in the gutters.

2. 2
   verb

   to get or gather together

   Let's accumulate some oak wood to build a fire.

3. 3
   verb

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

   He wishes to accumulate a sum of money.

4. 4
   verb

   To gradually grow or increase in quantity or number.

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

5. 5
   verb

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

6. 6
   adj

   Collected; accumulated.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁mósder.? Latin cumulus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin cumulō Latin accumulō Latin accumulātusbor. Middle English accumylaten English accumulate 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-form…