Gather — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Gather (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. to bring together in one body or place

   "he gathered the leftovers from the table and gave them to the dog"

   "let's gather the students and have them line up on the playground before going in from recess"

   similar: accumulate, amass, assemble, bulk (up), collect, concentrate, congregate, constellate, corral, garner, group, lump, pick up, round up, get together
   related: ball, batch, bunch, cluster, huddle, heap, pile, stack, band, brigade, muster, raise, rally, flock, herd, hive, pack, press, swarm, throng, combine, connect, join, link, merge, pool, unite, archive, arrange, collate, compile, organize, systematize, scrape (up or together), re-collect, regather, regroup
   opposite: dispel, disperse, dissipate, scatter
   near: break up, disband, disintegrate, dissolve, separate, sever, split (up), dismiss, send

2. to catch or collect (a crop or natural resource) for human use

   "late summer is when we gather the tomatoes and begin canning them for the winter"

   similar: harvest, pick, reap
   related: clam, fish, seal, shrimp, whale, accumulate, forage, garner, glean, cut, hay, mow, bag, capture, hunt, net, snare, trap, crop, grow, raise
   near: plant, seed, sow

3. to come together into one body or place

   "a crowd gathered around the street musician"

   "ask the faculty to gather in the lounge for the meeting"

   similar: assemble, cluster, collect, concenter, concentrate, conglomerate, congregate, convene, converge, forgather, meet, rendezvous, get together
   related: affiliate, ally, associate, band (together), caucus, club, collaborate, confederate, conjoin, consolidate, consort, cooperate, couple, federate, gang up, join, merge, unite, reassemble, reconvene, regather, remeet
   opposite: break up, disband, disperse, split (up)
   near: depart, leave, take off, disjoin, dissociate, disunite

4. to form an opinion or reach a conclusion through reasoning and information

   "I gather that, since you are back so early, she didn't want to see you?"

   similar: conclude, decide, deduce, derive, extrapolate, infer, judge, make out, reason, understand, draw a conclusion
   related: assume, suppose, conjecture, guess, speculate, surmise, construe, interpret, read, contemplate, philosophize, rationalize, think, ascertain, dope (out), find out

5. to gradually form into a layer, pile, or mass

   "the newspapers that had been allowed to gather on the front doorstep told thieves that the family was away on vacation"

   similar: accrete, accumulate, amass, build up, collect, concentrate, conglomerate, mass, pile (up), stack (up)
   related: agglutinate, clump, lump, bank, drift, ridge
   near: disperse, dissipate, scatter

6. to gradually increase in

   "the movement gathered force as election day neared"

   similar: build up, gain, grow (in), pick up
   related: double (in), triple (in), accrue, accumulate, amass, excite, stimulate, enhance, enlarge, enrich, expand, extend, maximize, boost, elevate, jack (up), mount, ramp (up), step up
   opposite: decrease (in), lose
   near: abate, decline (in), diminish (in), dip, dwindle, fall (in), lessen, taper, taper off

7. to call into being through the use of one's inner resources or powers

   "gathered the strength to finish the marathon"

   similar: conjure (up), get up, summon
   related: educe, elicit, evoke, raise