as in accumulating
to gradually form into a layer, pile, or mass
silt accreting at the mouth of the river over time
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Recent Examples of accreting
For the first few billion years of cosmic history, galaxies formed and grew by accreting more and more material from the intergalactic medium, as well as by merging together to form larger, more mature galaxies.
—
Big Think, 20 Feb. 2026
The spectral data provided by the JWST revealed hydrogen sulfide in the atmosphere of HR 8799 c, one of the system's inner giants, providing strong evidence that the planet formed by first assembling a solid core before rapidly accreting gas.
—Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 10 Feb. 2026
X-ray data revealed that the black hole is accreting material at roughly 13 times the Eddington limit, placing it among the fastest-growing black holes known at this mass scale.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 23 Jan. 2026
Eventually the star stops accreting matter, leaving the disk in orbit around it.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2025
In many cases, similar accreting black holes are telltale signs of active galactic nuclei, but astronomers needed to examine the evidence more carefully.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 7 Aug. 2025
Big Think, 20 Feb. 2026
The spectral data provided by the JWST revealed hydrogen sulfide in the atmosphere of HR 8799 c, one of the system's inner giants, providing strong evidence that the planet formed by first assembling a solid core before rapidly accreting gas.
—Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 10 Feb. 2026
X-ray data revealed that the black hole is accreting material at roughly 13 times the Eddington limit, placing it among the fastest-growing black holes known at this mass scale.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 23 Jan. 2026
Eventually the star stops accreting matter, leaving the disk in orbit around it.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2025
In many cases, similar accreting black holes are telltale signs of active galactic nuclei, but astronomers needed to examine the evidence more carefully.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for accreting
accumulating
Verb
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More fundamentally, housing is treated as a vehicle for accumulating wealth.—
Max Klaver,
Miami Herald,
27 Feb. 2026
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Any accumulating snow brought by the weather system will be in northern New England.—
Kathryn Prociv,
NBC news,
27 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Accreting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/accreting. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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