ag·gre·gate
(ăg′rĭ-gĭt)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
Indo-European roots).]
ag′gre·gate·ly adv.
ag′gre·ga′tion n.
ag′gre·ga′tive adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.