Accreting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The gradual increase in size or quantity through the accumulation of additional elements over time is a continuous process
2. Accumulating layers or components over time results in a gradual buildup, contributing to overall growth
3. Increasing in mass or size by slowly adding material or parts over a period

Etymology: "Accreting" is the present participle of "accrete," a verb formed by back-formation from "accretion." That means the verb did not come first: English speakers had the noun "accretion" and, working backward from it, created the verb by stripping off the noun ending. Back-formations like this are common when a noun is more familiar than its verb, and the process reverses the usual direction in which words are built. The noun "accretion" is the older of the two in the record. It traces to Latin "accretio," a growing-together formed from "accrescere," meaning to grow toward or increase, with "ad-" marking movement toward and "crescere" meaning to grow. The root image is of material growing onto something else, one layer joining another. The verb keeps that physical picture even in its abstract uses. Geologists speak of sediment accreting onto a coastline, and astronomers describe matter accreting onto a star or black hole, while the more general sense of gradual accumulation over time grows directly from those concrete origins.

Synonyms: growing, increasing

Antonyms: decreasing, diminishing