MEANING
Through successive additions or effects considered together over time.
Use it for
small repeated effects; accumulated costs; long-term totalsShow why individually small changes matter when combined.
Words that belong together
- cumulatively amount to
- cumulatively significant
- affect cumulatively
On the page
The delays were minor individually but cumulatively added three weeks to the project.
Small maintenance cuts can cumulatively weaken the reliability of a transport network.
The report counts donations cumulatively rather than resetting the total each month.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- cumulatively
Usage notes
Primary category: academic. Concerns accumulation, not necessarily steady growth in every period. Distinguish a cumulative total from the value observed in one interval. Adverb; invariant, with no inflected forms.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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