Origin: Latin suffix -ate
Accumulate has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
collect or gather
"Journals are accumulating in my office"
"The work keeps piling up"
To heap up in a mass; to pile up; to collect or bring together (either literally or figuratively)
"Over time, dust began to accumulate on top of every piece of furniture in the old house."
Collected; accumulated.
"Over time, dust accumulated on top of the old bookshelves in the corner of the room."
The word "accumulate" entered English around 1487 from the Latin accumulatus, meaning "piled up." It is derived from a root combining "to, towards" and "heap," referring to the act of gathering things together in a pile.