accumulate

verb

ac·​cu·​mu·​late ə-ˈkyü-m(y)ə-ˌlāt 

accumulated; accumulating

transitive verb

: to gather or pile up especially little by little : amass

accumulate a fortune

intransitive verb

: to increase gradually in quantity or number

snow accumulating to a depth of several feet

Synonyms

• accelerate
• appreciate
• balloon
• boom
• build up
• burgeon
• bourgeon
• climb
• enlarge
• escalate
• expand
• gain
• increase
• mount
• multiply
• mushroom
• proliferate
• rise
• roll up
• snowball
• spread
• swell
• wax

Examples of accumulate in a Sentence

Evidence of his guilt is accumulating.

the number of complaints about that mail order firm is really accumulating

Recent Examples on the Web

In Mercer, Summers, and Western Greenbrier counties in West Virginia, a warning is in effect until 7 p.m. EST Saturday, with between 5 and 7 inches of snow expected, and in northwest North Carolina and southwest Virginia, up to 6 inches of snow is forecast to accumulate. —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 11 Jan. 2025

Temperatures in the Fort Worth area remain around freezing, and the precipitation could cause a small amount of additional ice to accumulate bridges and overpasses. —Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Jan. 2025

The wave of prions slowly accumulates, spreading through the spleen and the lymph nodes and through the peripheral nervous system into the central nervous system. —Sophie Hartley, Scientific American, 10 Jan. 2025

No other team in England’s top four leagues accumulated more goals and last season, going up from the Championship, there were 92 more, the highest in their division again. —Daniel Taylor, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin accumulātus, past participle of accumulāre "to heap up, add to, increase," from ad- ad- + cumulāre "to gather into a heap" — more at cumulate

Note: In part a Latinization of Middle French accumuler.

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

accumulate

verb

ac·​cu·​mu·​late ə-ˈkyü-myə-ˌlāt 

accumulated; accumulating

1

: to gather or pile up especially little by little : amass

accumulate a fortune

2

: to increase in quantity, number, or amount

rubbish accumulates quickly

Legal Definition

accumulate

verb

ac·​cu·​mu·​late

accumulated; accumulating

transitive verb

: to gather especially little by little

specifically : to add (income from a fund) back into the principal

intransitive verb

: to increase gradually in amount or number