Meanings
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1
verb
to cause particles, cells, or other separate things to stick together in a clump or mass, or to undergo such clumping
The antibodies cause the matching blood cells to agglutinate visibly.
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2
verb
in linguistics, to attach several affixes to a base so that each expresses a distinct grammatical meaning
The language can agglutinate several suffixes onto a single verb stem.
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3
noun
a clump or mass of material formed by agglutination
The lunar soil contained a glassy agglutinate produced by repeated impacts.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Latin agglutinare, 'glue or fasten to,' formed from ad-, 'to,' + gluten, 'glue or paste.' The physical idea of sticking particles together underlies its biological, geological, and linguistic uses.