accumulateverb
uk/əˈkjuː.mjə.leɪt/us/əˈkjuː.mjə.leɪt/C2 [ T ] to collect a large number of things over a long period of time:
As people accumulate more wealth, they tend to spend a greater proportion of their incomes.
The company said the debt was accumulated during its acquisition of nine individual businesses.
We've accumulated so much rubbish over the years.
C2 [ I ] to gradually increase in number or amount:
A thick layer of dust had accumulated in the room.
If you don't go through the papers on your desk on a regular basis, they just keep on accumulating.
More examples
- It can be dangerous to let too much soot accumulate inside a chimney.
- During a successful business career, she accumulated a great amount of wealth.
- After a long career in the antiques trade, Harry had accumulated many rare treasures.
- During our six years in this house, we seem to have accumulated an awful lot of junk.
- Why don't you just do a little ironing every now and then, instead of letting it accumulate?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Collecting and amassing
- a pack rat idiom
- amass
- assemble
- bank
- blackberry
- bunch
- collect
- compilation
- concentration
- garner
- gather
- glean
- harvest
- load up on sth
- magpie
- numismatics
- philatelist
- philately
- scrape
- store
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Increasing and intensifying