Amalgamate

WORD OF THE DAY

amalgamate / verb / uh-MAL-guh-mayt

Definition

1: to unite in or as if in a mixture of elements 

2: to merge into a single body

Examples

"Rolls-Royce has operational service centres around the world, in which expert engineers are analysing the data being fed back from their engines. It can amalgamate the data from its engines to highlight factors and conditions under which engines might need maintenance." 

— Bernard Marr, Forbes, 1 June 2015

"When all the smaller municipalities in Hamilton-Wentworth were amalgamated into the City of Hamilton in 2001, there was resistance from the smaller suburban communities to the loss of their local governments." 

— Peter Clutterbuck, The Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator, 27 Mar. 2017

Did You Know?

The noun amalgam derives, by way of Middle French, from Medieval Latin amalgama. It was first used in the 15th century with the meaning "a mixture of mercury and another metal." 

(Today, you are likely to encounter this sense in the field of dentistry; amalgams can be used for filling holes in teeth.) Use of amalgam broadened over time to include any mixture of elements, and by the 18th century the word was also being applied figuratively, as in "an amalgam of citizens." 

The verb amalgamate has been in use since the latter half of the 1500s. It too can be used either technically, implying the creation of an alloy of mercury, or more generally for the formation of any compound or combined entity.