CONGLOMERATION

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conglomeration mean? 

• CONGLOMERATION (noun)
  The noun CONGLOMERATION has 3 senses:

1. a rounded spherical form

2. a sum total of many heterogenous things taken together

3. an occurrence combining miscellaneous things into a (more or less) rounded mass

  Familiarity information: CONGLOMERATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONGLOMERATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rounded spherical form

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

conglobation; conglomeration

Hypernyms ("conglomeration" is a kind of...):

sphere (a solid figure bounded by a spherical surface (including the space it encloses))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A sum total of many heterogenous things taken together

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

aggregate; congeries; conglomeration

Hypernyms ("conglomeration" is a kind of...):

sum; sum total; summation (the final aggregate)

Meronyms (members of "conglomeration"):

plankton (the aggregate of small plant and animal organisms that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water)

nekton (the aggregate of actively swimming animals in a body of water ranging from microscopic organisms to whales)

Derivation:

conglomerate (collect or gather)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An occurrence combining miscellaneous things into a (more or less) rounded mass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

conglobation; conglomeration

Hypernyms ("conglomeration" is a kind of...):

combine; combining (an occurrence that results in things being united)

Derivation:

conglomerate (collect or gather)

 Context examples 

I went into the out-house to look about me; and the very same lobsters, crabs, and crawfish possessed by the same desire to pinch the world in general, appeared to be in the same state of conglomeration in the same old corner.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On my imparting this discovery in confidence to Peggotty, she informed me that her brother dealt in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish; and I afterwards found that a heap of these creatures, in a state of wonderful conglomeration with one another, and never leaving off pinching whatever they laid hold of, were usually to be found in a little wooden outhouse where the pots and kettles were kept.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)