ag·gre·gate • n. / ˈagrigit/ 1. a whole formed by combining several (typically disparate) elements: the council was an aggregate of three regional assemblies. ∎  the total number of points scored by a player or team in a series of sporting contests: the result put the sides even on aggregate. 2. a material or structure formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles. ∎  pieces of broken or crushed stone or gravel used to make concrete, or more generally in construction work.• adj. / ˈagrigit/ formed or calculated by the combination of many separate units or items; total: the aggregate amount of grants made. ∎  Bot. (of a group of species) comprising several very similar species formerly regarded as a single species. ∎ Econ. denoting the total supply or demand for goods and services in an economy at a particular time.• v. / -ˌgāt/ form or group into a class or cluster: [intr.] the butterflies aggregate in dense groups. PHRASES: in (the) aggregate in total; as a whole.DERIVATIVES: ag·gre·ga·tion / ˌagriˈgāshən/ n.ag·gre·ga·tive / -ˌgātiv/ adj.

aggregate
1. In the building and construction industry, a mixture of mineral substances (bulk minerals), e.g. sand, gravel, crushed rock, stone, slag, and other materials (e.g. colliery spoil, pulverized fuel ash) which, when cemented, forms concrete, mastic, mortar, plaster, etc. Uncemented, it can be used as road-making material, railway ballasts, filter beds, and in some manufacturing processes as flux. In road-making, aggregate mixed with bitumen is called ‘coated stone’, and different physical characteristics are required for the different layers comprising the road pavement. Fine aggregate is less than 6.35 mm in diameter, coarse aggregate greater than 6.35 mm. See AGGREGATE TESTS; and PAVEMENT.

2. Group of soil particles adhering together in a cluster; the smallest structural unit, or ped, of soil. Aggregates join together to make up the major structural soil units.

aggregate (collectivity). Large collections of people may act as groups, with some degree of common purpose, but they may also act as non-organized collectivities, or aggregates. For example, an audience or crowd may be said to be an aggregate, in so far as its members lack any organization or persisting pattern of social relationships. The term is also used more broadly in reference to research or analysis that deals only with aggregate data, which consist of statistics produced for broad groups or categories (for example certain types of persons, households, or companies), and in which the characteristics of individual respondents (persons, households, or companies) are no longer identifiable. See also COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR; MICRODATA.

aggregate
1. In the building and construction industry, a mixture of mineral substances (bulk minerals), e.g. sand, gravel, crushed rock, stone, slag, and other materials (e.g. colliery spoil, pulverized fuel ash) which, when cemented, forms concrete, mastic, mortar, plaster, etc. Uncemented, it can be used as road-making material, railway ballasts, filter beds, and in some manufacturing processes as flux. In road-making, aggregate mixed with bitumen is called ‘coated stone’, and different physical characteristics are required for the different layers comprising the road pavement.

2. A group of soil particles adhering together in a cluster; the smallest structural unit, or ped, of soil. Aggregates join together to make up the major structural soil units.

aggregate collected into one body; sb. sum total, entire mass. XV. — L. aggregātus, pp. of aggregāre, f. AG- + grex, greg- flock (cf. GREGARIOUS).
Hence aggregate vb., aggregation XV.