accumulation
Pluralaccumulations
- 1
- 2The act of amassing or gathering things together, as into a pile.
Rapid accumulation of supplies began as the storm approached.
The accumulation of evidence took the detectives several months.
Similargathering, collection, stockpiling
Note
The core sense, built exactly as it looks: accumulate plus -ion. The word actually reached English whole, as Middle English acumulacyon, from Middle French and ultimately Latin accumulātiō, and it has been in use since the late 15th century. Its Latin form survives in English as the separate word accumulatio. As an act, it is someone's doing, as in the accumulation of evidence. By contrast, the heap itself names what that gathering leaves behind.
- 3The process by which something grows into a heap or a large amount.
The gradual accumulation of plaque can lead to heart disease.
Scientists tracked the accumulation of greenhouse gases over decades.
Similarbuildup, growth, increase, accretion
Note
Here nobody needs to be doing the gathering, because the amount simply grows. The usual construction is accumulation of, and it moves easily from the physical to the abstract: an accumulation of earth or sand, but equally of evils, wealth or honors. Words like gradual and steady suit it well, since this sense describes increase over time rather than a single deliberate act.
- 4In economics, the steady increase of capital that comes from keeping interest or savings rather than spending them.
Compound interest drives the accumulation of capital over long periods.
The fund relies on the steady accumulation of reinvested earnings.
Similargrowth, accrual, buildup
Oppositedepletion
Note
Accountants use the word for growth by keeping. Interest, dividends or earnings are retained and reinvested rather than paid out, so the principal compounds over successive periods. The word stresses the holding back as much as the growth, since capital accumulates only because nothing is drawn off. Keep it distinct from the investors' buying phase, where the gain comes from purchases rather than retained returns.
- 5The action of investors buying an asset from other investors while its price is low.
Analysts noticed heavy accumulation of the stock during the downturn.
The fund's quiet accumulation of undervalued shares paid off when prices recovered.
Similarbuying
Oppositedistribution, selling
Note
Market watchers use the word for quiet buying. Informed investors gradually take an asset off other holders while its price stays depressed, building positions without pushing the price up sharply, often ahead of a broader rise. It usually takes the asset after of, as in heavy accumulation of the stock or accumulation of undervalued shares, and it describes a phase that unfolds over time, not a single trade.
- 6The concurrence of several legal titles resting on the same proof.
The court examined an accumulation of titles that all rested on the same conveyance.
Counsel argued that the accumulation of claims relied entirely on one contested document.
Note
In law, accumulation names a convergence, not a pile. Several distinct titles or grounds of claim come to rest on one body of proof, so a single piece of evidence supports more than one right at once. The practical point is that the titles stand or fall together, because whatever undermines the shared proof undermines every claim built on it.
- 7In university education, the practice of studying for two higher degrees at once in order to shorten the overall time spent studying.
Through accumulation, the scholar received his master's and doctorate at the same ceremony.
Accumulation allowed established clergymen to gain a second degree without years of further residence.
Note
A British university custom that now belongs to the past: two higher degrees were conferred on one candidate at once, so the customary interval of study between them was shortened or waived. Because the practice is historical, the word fits accounts of how universities once worked. A modern double degree should be described in other terms. This sense is uncountable, so writers do not say an accumulation here.
Practice
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Origin
First attested in the late 15th century, it comes from Middle English "acumulacyon", from Middle French "accumulation" and its source, Latin "accumulātiō". By surface analysis it breaks down as "accumulate" plus "-ion", and it is a doublet of "accumulatio".