accumulating
- 1Present participle of accumulate.
Debt was accumulating faster than the family could pay it down.
Fine sediment is slowly accumulating at the bottom of the reservoir.
Note
The -ing form keeps both halves of the verb. With an object it means gathering, often without anyone intending to, as when a drawer keeps accumulating clutter. Without one it means growing, as debt does. As a gerund it takes that object directly (accumulating wealth) or through of (the slow accumulating of grievances). A dated academic use, taking a higher degree together with a lower one, is now seldom met.
The old shed had been accumulating junk for decades.
Accumulating savings takes patience more than income.
accumulating is a form of accumulate
accumulate, verb: To gather or pile up a quantity of something over time, often gradually and without deliberate effort. Full entry
- Forms
- accumulateaccumulates he/she/itaccumulating -ing formaccumulated past tense, past participle
- Spelling
- accumulate → accumulating: drop the e, add -ing
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