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ag·gre·gate (ăgrĭ-gĭt)
Share:
adj.
1. Constituting or amounting to a whole; total: aggregate sales in that market.
2. Botany Crowded or massed into a dense cluster.
3. Composed of a mixture of minerals separable by mechanical means.
n.
1. A total considered with reference to its constituent parts; a gross amount: "An empire is the aggregate of many states under one common head" (Edmund Burke).
2. The mineral materials, such as sand or stone, used in making concrete.
v. (-gāt) ag·gre·gat·ed, ag·gre·gat·ing, ag·gre·gates
v.tr.
1. To gather into a mass, sum, or whole: aggregated the donations into one bank account.
2. To amount to; total: Revenues will aggregate more than one million dollars.
3. To collect (content from different sources on the internet) into one webpage or newsreader.
v.intr.
To come together or collect in a mass or whole: "Some [bacteria]aggregate so closely as to mimic a multicellular organism" (Gina Kolata). "The first stars began to form when hydrogen and helium gas left over from the Big Bang aggregated into dense clouds" (Paul Davies).
Idiom:
in the aggregate
Taken into account as a whole: Unit sales for December amounted in the aggregate to 100,000.

[Middle English aggregat, from Latin aggregātus, past participle of aggregāre, to add to : ad-, ad- + gregāre, to collect (from grex, greg-, flock; see ger- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).]

aggre·gate·ly adv.
aggre·gation n.
aggre·gative adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.