CONGREGATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does congregate mean? 

• CONGREGATE (verb)
  The verb CONGREGATE has 1 sense:

1. come together, usually for a purpose

  Familiarity information: CONGREGATE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONGREGATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they congregate    ... he / she / it congregates   
Past simple: congregated   
Past participle: congregated   
-ing form: congregating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come together, usually for a purpose

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The crowds congregated in front of the Vatican on Christmas Eve

Hypernyms (to "congregate" is one way to...):

assemble; foregather; forgather; gather; meet (collect in one place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The crowds congregate in the streets

Derivation:

congregating; congregation (the act of congregating)

congregation (an assemblage of people or animals or things collected together)

congregation (a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church)

 Context examples 

There were hundreds of them congregated within view.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And he read of salons in great cities, even in the United States, where art and intellect congregated.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Why do lightning bolts congregate near the equator on Earth and near the poles on Jupiter?

(Juno Solves 39-Year Old Mystery of Jupiter Lightning, NASA)

In an experimental study using different types of wall materials, researchers from Sri Lanka found that smooth surfaces mean less opportunity for water to congregate on wall surfaces.

(Smoother walls healthier for lungs, SciDev.Net)

There all hands were already congregated.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

To protect themselves during this time, they congregate into masses that hang from tree branches—these clusters are made entirely of bees, each clinging to one another.

(Bees Help Researchers Confirm Theory about Maintaining Protective Clumps under Tough Conditions, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Bats by the thousands congregate in such caves and mine shafts, spending their winters away from the elements.

(Hibernation season over, will disease-ridden bats emerge from caves and mines this spring?, NSF)

Thanks to a rarely seen confluence of happy planets congregating in Capricorn, your fifth house of truelove, this month could be your most glorious of 2020.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The dry-goods stores were not down among the counting-houses, banks, and wholesale warerooms, where gentlemen most do congregate, but Jo found herself in that part of the city before she did a single errand, loitering along as if waiting for someone, examining engineering instruments in one window and samples of wool in another, with most unfeminine interest, tumbling over barrels, being half-smothered by descending bales, and hustled unceremoniously by busy men who looked as if they wondered 'how the deuce she got there'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Some of these, congregating about the inn-yard while we changed horses, told us of great sheets of lead having been ripped off a high church-tower, and flung into a by-street, which they then blocked up.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)