Macmillan Dictionary

Did you know?

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word

gather

 - definition
 
 
 
Close

What are red words?

90% of the time, speakers of English use just 7,500 words in speech and writing. These words appear in red, and are graded with stars. One-star words are frequent, two-star words are more frequent, and three-star words are the most frequent.

Close

Thesaurus

The thesaurus of synonyms and related words is fully integrated into the dictionary entries. Click on the T button in an entry to review the synonyms and related words for that meaning.

more
verb British English pronunciation: gather /ˈɡæðə(r)/ 
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theygather
he/she/itgathers
present participlegathering
past tensegathered
past participlegathered
Other entries for this word
 
  1. 1
    [intransitive/transitive] if people gather, or if someone gathers them, they come together in one place to see or do something

    A crowd gathered outside the hotel.

    Football fans gathered around the TV in the corner of the bar.

    She gathered her children and ran for shelter.

    There were 60,000 fans gathered in the stadium.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather
  2. 2
    [transitive] to look for and find information or documents in different places

    Our report is based on information gathered from all parts of the country.

    The police have been gathering evidence against him.

    I need to gather together our tax documents.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather
    1. a.
      to search for and find similar things that you need or want

      They live by gathering shellfish and snails.

      Bees were gathering pollen from the wild flowers.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather
  3. 3
    [transitive] if something gathers force, speed, or strength, its force, speed, or strength increases

    The train pulled away slowly, then gathered speed.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather
  4. 4
    [transitive] to bring things closer together, for example to protect something or to make it tidy

    Gathering her robe around her, Maria ran upstairs.

    She gathered her hair into a knot at the back of her head.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather
  5. 5
    [transitive] mainly spoken to believe that something is true, although no one has directly told you about it

    You're new here, I gather.

    From what I can gather she's madly in love with him.

    gather (that):

    I gather that the storm caused a power failure.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather
  7. 7
    [transitive] [usually passive] to make a lot of small folds in cloth

    The dress is gathered at the waist with elastic.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of gather

phrases

phrasal verbs

This is the British English definition of gather. View American English definition of gather.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to American English.

 

charticle

a news article that consists of a chart … and only has a small amount of text

BuzzWord Article

Word of the Day

tweet

the short high sound that a small bird makes

Open Dictionary

never event

an event that should never occur in a healthcare setting …

add a word

Blog

A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.

global English and language change from our blog