cumulative

cu·mu·la·tive

adjective \ˈkyü-myə-lə-tiv, -ˌlā-\

Definition of CUMULATIVE

1

a : made up of accumulated parts

b : increasing by successive additions

2

: tending to prove the same point <cumulative evidence>

3

a : taking effect upon completion of another penal sentence <a cumulative sentence>

b : increasing in severity with repetition of the offense <cumulative penalty>

4

: formed by the addition of new material of the same kind <a cumulative book index>

5

: summing or integrating overall data or values of a random variable less than or less than or equal to a specified value <cumulative normal distribution> <cumulative frequency distribution>

— cu·mu·la·tive·ly adverb

— cu·mu·la·tive·ness noun

Examples of CUMULATIVE

1. <a cumulative weight gain of 20 pounds over the course of a year>
2. … Game Boy, which first came out in 1989 as a monochrome handheld toy, has become the most successful of all of the systems, reaching cumulative sales of 110 million units to date … —N'gai Croal, Newsweek, 28 May 2001
3. They began looking at the cumulative effect of stress and realized that, while there might have been an incident that finally triggered the madness, a series of previous events had lowered the soldier's emotional resistance. —Michael Fleming and Roger Manvell, Psychology Today, July 1987
4. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” in Essays, 1841

Origin of CUMULATIVE

(see cumulate)

First Known Use: 1605

Related to CUMULATIVE

Synonyms

accretive, accumulative, additive, conglomerative, incremental

Related Words

gradual, step-by-step, stepwise; increscent, progressive; accruable, accrued, aggregated, amassed, built-up, compiled, conglomerated

Near Antonyms

decremental, decrescent, degressive, regressive

Rhymes with CUMULATIVE

aggregative, agitative, applicative, carminative, circulative, cogitative, combinative, commutative, connotative, consecrative, consultative, contemplative, copulative, corporative, denotative, dissipative, duplicative, educative, facultative, federative, generative, germinative, gravitative, imitative, implicative, innovative, instigative, integrative, irritative, iterative, legislative, limitative, meditative, meliorative, motivative, nominative, nuncupative, operative, palliative, penetrative, procreative, propagative, qualitative, quantitative, recreative, regulative, replicative, separative, terminative, vegetative

cu·mu·la·tive

adjective \ˈkyü-myə-lət-iv, -ˌlāt-\   (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of CUMULATIVE

: increasing in effect by successive doses (as of a drug or poison) <cumulative poisoning by organochlorine pesticides—Jack Clincy>

—cu·mu·la·tive·ly adverb