Consolidators

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Characterized by entities or individuals who bring together various elements or resources into a unified whole
2. Pertaining to those who strengthen or reinforce a business or organization by merging multiple components
3. Describing processes or actions that aim to stabilize, combine, or fortify different aspects of a system or structure

Etymology: "Consolidators" is the plural of "consolidator," which is formed from "consolidate" plus the agent suffix "-or," meaning one who or that which performs the action. The verb "consolidate" comes from Latin "consolidare," to make solid, from "con-" (together) and "solidus" (solid, firm), so a consolidator is literally something that makes things firm or whole by joining them. The suffix has a longer ancestry than the base word. The "-or" ending traces back through Latin "-tor" and Old French "-eor" to Middle English "-our," and it passed into English as a productive way of naming agents. That is why English can attach it to a verb as readily as "sailor" or "actor" were built from older roots. In its current sense, the word is used for the firms or investors that merge smaller companies into larger ones, the sense of joining separate pieces into a single unit that the Latin root already held.

Synonyms: unifiers, mergers, integrators

Antonyms: dissociators, splitters