John Pinkerton
Did you know?
Concatenate is a fancy word for a simple thing: it means “to link together in a series or chain.” It’s Latin in origin, formed from a word combining con-, meaning “with” or “together,” and catena, meaning “chain. ” (The word chain is also linked directly to catena.) Concatenate can also function in English as an adjective meaning “linked together,” as in “concatenate strings of characters,” but it’s rare beyond technology contexts. More common than either concatenate is the noun concatenation, used for a group of things linked together in a series, as in “a concatenation of events led to the mayor’s resignation.” Concatenation, like concatenate, is used mostly in formal contexts, but you’re welcome to change that. We personally would be tickled if professional baseball players aspired to play in the “World Concatenation,” and people talked about the latest concatenation they’ve been binge-watching.
Examples of concatenate in a Sentence
Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
During the check, the implementation executes a command to concatenate it with the email domain, without any checks for malicious characters that may be contained in it.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 1 July 2024
Most importantly, smell matters because all our senses concatenate and build on each other.
—Wired, 2 Aug. 2022
The vehicle utilizes its unique roll mechanism design together with the switching control strategy to concatenate a series of steady wings-level and turning flights and accomplish behaviors comparable to air gliders.
—IEEE Spectrum, 8 Feb. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Concatenate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concatenate. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
concatenate
adjective
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