congregate

/ˈkɒŋɡɹəɡeɪt/

congregate verb: to collect into an assembly or assemblage; to bring into one place, or into a united body.

Verb

congregate (third-person singular simple present congregates, present participle congregating, simple past and past participle congregated)

(transitive) To collect into an assembly or assemblage; to bring into one place, or into a united body.
- Any multitude of Christian men congregated may be termed by the name of a church.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- The great receptacle Of congregated waters he called Seas.1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Synonyms:

amass, assemble, compact, bring together, gather, mass, aggregate, bracket, aggroup, collect
(intransitive) To come together; to assemble; to meet.
- Even there where merchants most do congregate.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Synonyms:

assemble, begather, forgather, collect, congress, crowd, fall in with, flock, gather, gather up

Adjective

UK/ˈkɒŋɡɹəɡət/

congregate (comparative more congregate, superlative most congregate)

(obsolete) Congregated.
- VVith all the Gods about him congregate:c. 1597–1598, Edmund Spenser, “Two Cantos of Mutabilitie: […]. Book VII, Canto VI.”, in The Faerie Queene, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes, published 1609, →OCLC, stanza 19...
(obsolete) Congregated (organized on a congregational basis).
- congregate churches
(rare) Collective; assembled; compact.
- With this reservation, therefore, we proceed to human philosophy or humanity, which hath two parts: the one considereth man segregate or distributively, the other congregate or in society; so as human philosophy is either simple and particular, or conjugate and civil.1605, Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, Book II, Chapter IX

Noun

UK/ˈkɒŋɡɹəɡət/

congregates

(in plural, obsolete) Assembled persons.
- That the congregates may frankelie shew their minds upon such matters as are to come before them.1587, William Harrison, Description of England, II. viii

congregate meaning in Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

congregate in Malayalam

ഒന്നിച്ചു ചേരുക, സമ്മേളിക്കുക, യോഗം ചേരുക

congregate in Kannada

ಮುದ್ದೆಮಾಡು, ಒಟ್ಟುಸೇರು, ಗುಂಪಾಗು, ಒಂದೆಡೆ ಸೇರು

Examples of congregate in a sentence

Iftars can be social events, where people congregate to eat and socialize.
Create your own homemade fly paper and hang near doorways or other areas where flies congregate.
Ever-loyal “Ezralites” (the fan base of BTE) continue to congregate for live performances and follow the trio's ongoing success.

All 18 example sentences with congregate

Synonyms of congregate

24 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of congregate

Forms of congregate

Verb
third-person singular present	congregates
present participle	congregating
past participle	congregated
past	congregated
Adjective
comparative	more congregate
superlative	most congregate

Past tense of congregate: congregated

Origin of congregate

The adjective is first attested in 1400–1450, in Middle English, the verb c. 1513; from Middle English congregat(e) (“(of people) banded together; (of liquids) accumulated; (of muscles) contracted; (of wounds) closed up”), borrowed from Latin congregātus, perfect passive participle of congregō (“to congregate”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3), from con- (“with, together”) + gregō (“to collect into a flock”), from grex (“flock, herd”). See gregarious and egregious. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Words formed from congregate

Questions about congregate

What does congregate mean?: Congregate means to collect into an assembly or assemblage; to bring into one place, or into a united body.
What is congregate in Bengali?: Congregate in Bengali is জড়ো হওয়া. See Congregate meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is congregate?: Congregate can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce congregate?: Congregate is pronounced /ˈkɒŋɡɹəɡeɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of congregate?: The past tense of congregate is congregated.

Words near congregate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: congregate (page history and authors); Congregate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); congregate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); congregate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-congregate.wav.

Cite this entry: “congregate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/congregate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.