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cu·mu·la·tive (kymyə-lā′tĭv, -yə-lə-tĭv)
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adj.
1. Increasing or enlarging by successive addition.
2. Acquired by or resulting from accumulation.
3. Of or relating to interest or a dividend that is added to the next payment if not paid when due.
4. Law
a. Supporting the same point as earlier evidence: cumulative evidence.
b. Imposed with greater severity upon a repeat offender: cumulative punishment.
c. Following successively; consecutive: cumulative sentences.
5. Statistics
a. Of or relating to the total observed frequency of data, or the probability of a random variable, that is less than or equal to a specified value.
b. Of or relating to experimental error that increases in magnitude with each successive measurement.
cumu·la′tive·ly adv.
cumu·la′tive·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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