Other forms: congregated, congregating, congregates
To congregate is to come together in a crowd. Congregate outside, they congregate in the square, congregate around him.
It suggests gathering without being summoned, which is what separates it from assemble. The Latin means to collect into a flock, from grex, and congregation and gregarious come from the same word.
1verbcongregateTo come together in a crowd.
“Thousands of birds congregate on the lake before flying south for the winter.”
congregate is a gathering.
Latin congregare means to gather into a flock, from com- plus grex, a flock.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂ger-
Latin
congregātus
Middle English
congregat — (of people) banded together; (of liquids) accumulated; (of muscles) contracted; (of wounds) closed up
English, today
congregate
Built from
The adjective is r, in Middle English, the verb c. 1513; from Middle English congregat (“(of people) banded together; (of liquids) accumulated; (of muscles) contracted; (of wounds) closed up”), borrowed from Latin congregātus, perfect passive participle of congregō (“to congregate”) (see -ate, from con- (“with, together”) + gregō (“to collect into a flock”), from grex (“flock, herd”). See gregarious and egregious. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA