accretions

Noun

accretion (countable and uncountable, plural accretions)

1. (also, figuratively, uncountable) Increase by natural growth, especially the gradual increase of organic bodies by the internal addition of matter; organic growth; also, the amount of such growth.
   • Warwick was unable to perceive much change in the market-house. […] There might have been a slight accretion of the moss and lichen on the shingled roof.1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 3

   Synonyms:

   accrescence

   Antonyms:

   nonaccretion

2. (uncountable) (Gradual) increase by an external addition of matter; (countable) an instance of this.
   • Near-synonym: accumulation

   Synonyms:

   accrescence, accumulation

   Antonyms:

   nonaccretion

   1. The process by which material is added to a geological feature; specifically, to a tectonic plate at a subduction zone.
3. (also, figuratively, uncountable) Followed by of: external addition of matter to a thing which causes it to grow, especially in amount or size.
   • [W]hile ſome fevv grevv rich by turning Money in their ovvn Banks, there vvas a falſe Appearance of VVealth vvithin, but no Accretion of Riches from abroad.1713 October 18 (Gregorian calendar), Richard Steele, “October 8. [1713].”, in The Englishman: Being the Sequel of the Guardian, collected edition, number 2, London: […] Sam[uel] Buckley […]...
4. (uncountable) The process of separate particles aggregating or coalescing together; concretion; (countable) a thing formed in this manner.
   • The accretion of particles forms a solid mass.
   1. The formation of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies by the aggregating of matter drawn together by gravity; also, the growth of a celestial body through this process.
      • This theory, known as pebble accretion, is reshaping how scientists think about the early solar system. […] "In many ways, pebble accretion is the most efficient way of adding mass to a body," says Lambrechts.2018 April 26, Alexandra Witze, “Earth may have been Formed by a Bunch of Tiny Space Pebbles”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC...

See all 10 meanings of accretion