1 agglomeration | Definition of agglomeration

agglomeration

noun
ag·​glom·​er·​a·​tion | \ ə-ˌglĂ€-mə-ˈrā-shən How to pronounce agglomeration (audio) \

Definition of agglomeration

1 : the action or process of collecting in a mass the agglomeration of matter into stars and galaxies
2 : a heap or cluster of usually disparate (see disparate sense 1) elements 
 an agglomeration of 100-year-old cottages with gingerbread scroll-saw ornamentation.— Ira Henry Freeman
3 : a large, densely and contiguously populated area consisting of a city and its suburbs an urban agglomeration

Keep scrolling for more

Other Words from agglomeration

agglomerative \ -​ˈglĂ€-​mə-​ˌrā-​tiv How to pronounce agglomerative (audio) \ adjective

Examples of agglomeration in a Sentence

This suburb has become just a vast agglomeration of houses, people, and cars. a mere agglomeration of warring tribes, it was far from being a unified nation

Recent Examples on the Web

And a wholesale move out of China looks unfeasible, not least because few other places possess the expertise that agglomerations like Shenzhen have built up over the years. The Economist, "Taiwan’s computing titans are caught up in the US-China tech war," 6 June 2019 Whereas cities like New York and Washington, D.C., are home to entrenched economic agglomerations that keep high-income professionals tethered to them, even in the face of heavy taxation, Kentucky finds itself in a less favorable position. Reihan Salam, The Atlantic, "The GOP’s Public-Education Dilemma," 29 May 2018 Far from being primordial units knit together by a pre-political culture, modern nation-states are agglomerations still displaying the fault-lines of the political struggles that produced them. Daniel Luban, The New Republic, "The Man Behind National Conservatism," 26 July 2019 Don’t expect Silicon Valley to transform itself into an agglomeration of Mozillas anytime soon. The Economist, "What open-source culture can teach tech titans and their critics," 18 July 2019 There’s a desire to mix tall buildings and shorter ones as a way to let sunlight in and keep the agglomeration of new buildings from overwhelming all of us down below. John King, SFChronicle.com, "Chiseled glass tower offers window into SF’s contradictions," 18 July 2019 The 117-acre agglomeration of shops, restaurants, office buildings, a movie theater, and waterpark, houses a huge network of sensors and video cameras. Fortune, "The European Shopping Center Where Technology’s Future Is Being Tracked Today," 14 July 2019 Senior food engineer Ann Barrett, PhD., showed me a technique called sonic agglomeration. Tyler Kord, Popular Mechanics, "Cooking (and Shrinking) the Modern Combat Ration," 29 June 2019 Last month, Colombia elected its first woman vice-president; Mexico City, the largest urban agglomeration in North America, has just elected its first woman mayor. Esther Allen, The New York Review of Books, "Returning the Gaze, with a Vengeance," 8 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agglomeration.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

See More

First Known Use of agglomeration

1661, in the meaning defined at sense 1

History and Etymology for agglomeration

borrowed from Medieval Latin agglomerātiƍn-, agglomerātiƍ, from Latin agglomerāre "to agglomerate entry 1" + -tiƍn-, -tiƍ, suffix of action nouns

Keep scrolling for more

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for agglomeration

agglomeration

noun

English Language Learners Definition of agglomeration

formal : a large group, collection, or pile of different things

More from Merriam-Webster on agglomeration

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with agglomeration

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for agglomeration