Definition:
A figure of speech in which a speaker or writer gathers scattered points and lists them together.
Etymology:
From the Latin, "pile up, heap"Examples:
- "A generation goes and a generation comes, yet the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and rushes back again to the place from which it rises. The wind blows south, then returns to the north, round and round goes the wind, on its rounds it circulates. All streams flow to the sea, yet the sea does not fill up."
(Ecclesiastes, The Old Testament) - "I don't know how to manage my time; he does. . . .
I don't know how to dance and he does.
I don't know how to type and he does.
I don't know how to drive. . . .
I don't know how to sing and he does."
(Natalia Ginzburg, "He and I") - "Now Senator McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I’m green behind the ears, and I’m just spouting off and he’s somber and responsible. Senator McCain--this is a guy who sang 'bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don’t think is an example of speaking softly. This is the person who after we hadn’t even finished Afghanistan where he said--'next up, Baghdad.' So I agree that we have to speak responsibly.”
(Senator Barack Obama, U.S. Presidential Debate, October 7, 2008) - I’m a modern man, digital and smoke-free;
a man for the millennium.
A diversified, multi-cultural, post-modern deconstructionist;
politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect.
I’ve been uplinked and downloaded,
I’ve been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing,
I know the downside of upgrading.
I’m a high-tech low-life.
a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art,
bi-coastal multi-tasker,
and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. . . .
(George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, Hyperion, 2004)
Pronunciation: ah-kyoom-you-LAY-shun
Also Known As: accumulatio, congeries
