Synonym Chooser

How does the verb congregate differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of congregate are assemble, collect, and gather. While all these words mean "to come or bring together into a group, mass, or unit," congregate implies a spontaneous flocking together into a crowd or huddle.

congregating under a shelter

Where would assemble be a reasonable alternative to congregate?

The words assemble and congregate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, assemble implies an ordered union or organization of persons or things often for a definite purpose.

experts assembled for a conference

When could collect be used to replace congregate?

Although the words collect and congregate have much in common, collect often implies careful selection or orderly arrangement.

collected books on gardening

When can gather be used instead of congregate?

While the synonyms gather and congregate are close in meaning, gather is the most general term for bringing or coming together from a spread-out or scattered state.

a crowd quickly gathered

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of congregate At the park, most of our fellow riders congregated by the snack bars or rambled onto a nearby observation deck that jutted into the water. Peggy Orenstein, AFAR Media, 6 Jan. 2025 By day, the stick insect hid in tree hollows, often congregating in significant numbers for shelter, with reports of as many as 60 insects found in a single hollow. Scott Travers, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025 Outside the main doors, one large group of election observers congregated as Jefferson Davis lead them in a prayer. Davis, is a former Menomonee Falls village president who promoted false claims about the 2020 election and tried to overturn the results. Madison Lammert, Journal Sentinel, 6 Nov. 2024 After a long day’s work out in the sun, Ms. Garduño and some neighboring farmers congregate under Ms. Garduño’s makeshift hut for a feast of chicken and tortillas. Mariana Martínez Barba and Julitàn Trejo Bax, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for congregate 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for congregate
Verb
  • What To Know Several online videos show supporters gathering outside the Central Detention Facility in Washington D.C. on Monday evening.
    Kristen Waggoner, Newsweek, 22 Jan. 2025
  • But as decorators on Monday put the finishing touches on gathering rooms, draping them in the colors of the Colombian flag, in Port-au-Prince, the capital, the judicial process around the president’s murder was moving painstakingly slow.
    Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 22 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • With substantial investments, international collaborations, and technological progress converging, the possibility of a QC singularity—where quantum systems achieve practical, widespread utility—appears increasingly plausible in the near future.
    Luis E. Romero, Forbes, 18 Jan. 2025
  • Health care bankers at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference anticipate a bounty of Q1 process launches as several factors converge to improve the dealmaking environment.
    Aaron Weitzman, Axios, 15 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Read more Trump family channels American royalty: Body language experts' verdicts Full list of January 6 prisoners released by Trump Trump to launch executive order blitz on first full day: Live updates Can Trump's External Revenue Service collect money from foreign nations?
    Kristen Waggoner, Newsweek, 21 Jan. 2025
  • The letter also stressed to principals that all children in the city have a right to an education regardless of immigration or asylum status and that the system does not collect information about any student’s immigration status.
    Rosa Flores, CNN, 21 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • In among all these itinerant jobs, Robert meets Gladys (Felicity Jones), a young woman who sings in the church choir and becomes the incandescent center of his life.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2025
  • Rather than adapting existing algorithms, Metal Minds creates solutions from scratch that reflect the physical and chemical processes occurring during steelmaking as accurately as possible while tailoring these solutions to meet clients’ specific needs.
    Svetlana Khachiyan, USA TODAY, 27 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • In other countries where RCV is the norm, parties assemble slates of candidates to appeal to different constituencies and knit together a winning coalition.
    Jasmine Gripper, New York Daily News, 17 Jan. 2025
  • Lessons include how to plan a menu, her philosophy on assembling salads, and how to braise and slow cook large cuts of meat.
    Wilder Davies, Bon Appétit, 17 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • The trips convene twice a day from the Shoreditch High Street overground station at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
    Brad Japhe, Travel + Leisure, 22 Jan. 2025
  • One way to get a good idea of the recipe for stronger artificial intelligence is to talk to experts convening at today’s conferences and tradeshow events to brainstorm about what the near future is likely to look like.
    John Werner, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • During wildfires, such particles can move via the collapse of sediment chunks that have amassed behind vegetation.
    Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 17 Jan. 2025
  • The video, which has currently amassed more than 7 million views, begins with a clip of the tiny kitten clinging to a tree amidst torrential rain before being rescued.
    Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Astronauts launched in an Orion capsule atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket then will rendezvous with the Starship in orbit around the moon for the descent to the surface.
    William Harwood, CBS News, 17 Jan. 2025
  • Perseverance would carry the samples to the lander and attach them to the rocket, which would then launch from Mars – the first rocket ever to launch from the surface of another planet – to rendezvous with an Earth Return Orbiter, provided by the ESA.
    Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 7 Jan. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near congregate

Cite this Entry

“Congregate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/congregate. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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