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
One striking example is UHZ1, which reveals that accreting supermassive black holes were already in place just 470 million years after the Big Bang, with masses roughly 10 million times that of the sun.
—
Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 29 Jan. 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
Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 29 Jan. 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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That timing is important because dementia is typically diagnosed much later, but the biological and social factors that influence risk can start accumulating decades earlier.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
6 Feb. 2026
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These areas are likely to see accumulating snow of around an inch.—
Caroline Neal,
Louisville Courier Journal,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Accreting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/accreting. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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