Accumulative

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈkjum.jəˌleɪ.tɪv/

Definitions

1. Being marked by the gradual process of gathering or enhancing quantities over a duration
2. Involving the assembly of components or information that contributes to an overall sum over time
3. Characterized by the process of gradually increasing amounts or values that build up over a period

Etymology: "Accumulative" is built from "accumulate" plus the suffix "-ive", meaning something that tends to accumulate or gather over time. The base verb "accumulate" comes from Latin "accumulare", meaning to heap up, formed from "ad-" ("to") and "cumulus" ("heap"). That Latin "cumulus" is the source of English "cumulus", the name for the heaped white clouds. The verb reached English in Middle English through the Latin past participle "accumulatus", and the adjective ending came by a longer route. The Latin suffix "-ivus" passed into Old French as "-if", and Middle English adopted it as "-yf" before it settled into the modern "-ive". English then attached it to "accumulate" to create the adjective.

Synonyms: collective, aggregate, compounding, gathering, additive

Antonyms: dispersive, diminutive, reducing, decreasing, subtracting