Definition of aggregate

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aggregate fruit >

ag·gre·gate    (gr-gt) KEY 

ADJECTIVE:

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.

NOUN:

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.

VERB:
ag·gre·gat·ed, ag·gre·gat·ing, ag·gre·gates (-gt)
VERB:
tr.

1. To gather into a mass, sum, or whole.
2. To amount to; total.

VERB:
intr.

To come together or collect in a mass or whole: "Some [bacteria]aggregate so closely as to mimic a multicellular organism" (Gina Kolata).

IDIOM:
in the aggregate

Taken into account as a whole: Unit sales for December amounted in the aggregate to 100,000.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English aggregat, from Latin aggregtus, past participle of aggregre, to add to : ad-, ad- + gregre, to collect (from grex, greg-, flock; see ger- in Indo-European roots)

OTHER FORMS:
aggre·gate·ly(Adverb), aggre·gation(Noun), aggre·gative(Adjective), aggre·gator(Noun)