conglomerate

Noun

conglomerate (plural conglomerates)

1. A cluster of heterogeneous things.
   • They [miracles in the canonical gospels] are held, too, together by his [Jesus Christ's] strong and central personality, which does not leave them a conglomerate of marvellous anecdotes accidentally heaped together, but parts of a great organic whole, of which every part is in vital coherence with...1846, Richard Chenevix Trench, “The Evangelical, Compared with Other Cycles of Miracles”, in Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, section 2 (The Miracles of...
2. A corporation formed by the combination of several smaller corporations whose activities are unrelated to the corporation's primary activity.
   • The 2017 list includes 80 financial conglomerates with the head of group located in the European Union or European Economic Area, one financial conglomerate with the head of group in Switzerland, one in Bermuda, and two in the United States.2017 December 5, “ESAs [European Supervisory Authorities] Publish the List of Financial Conglomerates”, in European Banking Authority, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2018
3. A rock consisting of gravel or pebbles embedded in a matrix.
   • When sandstone is coarse-grained, it is usually called grit. If the grains are rounded, and large enough to be called pebbles, it becomes a conglomerate, or pudding-stone, which may consist of pieces of one or of many different kinds of rock. A conglomerate, therefore, is simply gravel bound...1838, Charles Lyell, “Aqueous Rocks—Their Composition and Forms of Stratification”, in Elements of Geology, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 27
   • Calcareous lias, slate, and trap are still to be found there, rising from layers of conglomerate like teeth out of a gum. But the pickaxe has broken up and levelled those bristling, rugged peaks which were once the homes of the eagles.1869, Victor Hugo, [anonymous translator], “Chesil”, in The Man Who Laughs: In Two Volumes, international limited edition, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Estes and Lauriat Publishers, →OCLC, part I (The...

Adjective

conglomerate (comparative more conglomerate, superlative most conglomerate)

1. Clustered together into a mass.
   • conglomerate flowers
   • The Beames of Light, when they are multiplied and conglomerate, generate Heat; which is a different Action, from the Action of Sight: […]1631, Francis [Bacon], “III. Century. [Consent of Visibles, and Audibles.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...
2. Composed of fragments of rock, pebbles, or stones cemented together.
   • The Santa Margarita Formation in the southern Temblor Range, composed of conglomerate and subordinate sandstone, evolved as a large complex of fan deltas and submarine fans in late Miocene time.1989, Robert T. Ryder, Alan Thomson, “Abstract”, in Tectonically Controlled Fan Delta and Submarine Fan Sedimentation of Late Miocene Age, Southern Temblor Range, California (U.S. Geological Survey...
   • He also documented some intercalated mottled reddish clays and marls, and the upper horizons containing bluish clays with conglomerate beds.2015, Megh Raj Dhital, “Siwaliks of Arun–Tamar Region”, in Geology of the Nepal Himalaya: Regional Perspective of the Classic Collided Orogen (Regional Geology Reviews), Cham, Switzerland...
3. Made up of heterogeneous elements; composite.
   • I sat down on a step for a while to get over it, with my head in my hands and that awful conglomerate sound in my ears all the time.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 21

Verb

UK/kənˈɡlɒm.əˌɹeɪt/US/kənˈɡlɑ.məˌɹeɪt/

conglomerate (third-person singular simple present conglomerates, present participle conglomerating, simple past and past participle conglomerated)

1. (transitive) To combine together into a larger mass.
   • [V]apors are never attracted or drawn up above the middle Region of the Air; for that the cold Air there, by thickning and conglomerating them, preſently turn them into clouds: and thence proceeds Miſts, Rains, Snows, Hayls, &c.1665, John Gadbury, “Sect. IIII. Of Meteors in General, How Caused?”, in Natura Prodigiorum: Or, A Discourse Touching the Nature of Prodigies. […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for Fr. Cossinet, […]...
   • "In less than an hour," he said, looking up to the sun's disc, which was then feebly struggling through a dim mass of conglomerating clouds; "in less than an hour you shall be fully satisfied and amply revenged."1821, [Thomas Dibdin], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, New Series, Containing The Fair Witch of Glas Llyn. … In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for William Fearman, […], →OCLC, page...
2. (transitive) To combine together into a larger corporation.
   • Some firms conglomerated with suppliers of intermediate inputs and the railroad to carry their products.1993, “Interlocking Directorates”, in The Philippine Review of Economics and Business, volume 30, number 1, Quezon City, Philippines: School of Economics and the College of Business Administration...
   • The hallmark of the late twentieth century in the media industries (and adjacent/overlapping territories, such as the Internet) was the weakening of boundaries that previously distinguished arenas, enterprises, institutions, and professions. […] Entertainment media—the rapidly conglomerating...2001, Larry Gross, “Facing the Future”, in Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America, New York, N.Y.; Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 260