congregate
verb
Simple meaning
Come together, usually for a purpose.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahnggruhgaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑŋɡɹəɡeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Come together, usually for a purpose
“The crowds congregated in front of the Vatican on Christmas Eve.”
intransitive
To come together; to assemble; to meet.
transitive
To collect into an assembly or assemblage; to bring into one place, or into a united body.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Come together, usually for a purpose
Used this way, congregate is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The crowds congregated in front of the Vatican on Christmas Eve.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “congregate in …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: congregate in …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use congregate
- “The crowds congregated in front of the Vatican on Christmas Eve.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: come together or usually for a purpose
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.