Meanings
plural agglutinations
- countableuncountableThe act of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance; the state of being thus united; adhesion of parts.
- countableuncountablehuman sciencesCombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning. See agglutinative.
- countableuncountableThe clumping together of red blood cells or bacteria, usually in response to a particular antibody.
It may resemble the factor 5 in Salmonella, a heat-labile determinant on the endotoxin molecule which, because of its superficial location, blocks the agglutination reaction of the deeper heat-stable O antigens in the same way as do the Vi and K antigens.
1966, Karina Dzintars Burda, A Study of Heat-labile Superficial Somatic Antigen of Vibrio Fetus, page 41
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe coalescing of small particles that are suspended in solution; these larger masses are then (usually) precipitated
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchagglutination
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
- Proto-Italic*ad
- Proto-Italic*ad-
- Latinad-
- Proto-Indo-European*gleyH-
- Proto-Indo-European*glóh₁ytn̥
- Proto-Italic*gloiten
- Latinglūten
- Latinglūtinō
- Latinagglūtinō
- New Latinagglutinatio
- Englishagglutination
Multiple origins. The oldest usage, in relation to tissues adhering or healing in medical contexts, appears in the 16th century, from French agglutination. The linguistic sense derived from this usage during the early 19th century. The sense of gluing or cementing objects together in other contexts is from New Latin agglutinatio, from Latin agglūtinō (“glue; fasten to”) + -iō (a suffix used to form nouns). Compare Spanish aglutinación (“uniting; (linguistic) agglutination”), French agglutiner (“to paste together”, verb), and German Agglutination (“(linguistic) agglutination”) and Agglutinierung (“(biological) adhering, clumping”).
More words from French, New Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian слепване
- слепване (slepvane)act of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
Catalan aglutinació
- aglutinaciócombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
Chinese Mandarin 粘合, 黏合
- 粘合 (zhānhé)act of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- 黏合 (niánhé)act of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- 粘著combination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- 粘着 (niánzhuó)combination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
Finnish liimaus, liimautuminen
- liimausact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- liimautuminenact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- agglutinaatiocombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- agglutinaatioclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
French agglutination, agglutination
- agglutinationact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- agglutinationcombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
German Agglutination
- Agglutinationact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
Hungarian ragasztás, agglutináció
- ragasztásact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- agglutinációcombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- agglutináláscombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
Indonesian aglutinasi
- aglutinasiclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Japanese 膠着
- 膠着 (kōchaku)combination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
Korean 교착
- 교착 (gyochak)combination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
Malay pengaglutinan
- pengaglutinanclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Polish aglutynacja, aglutynacja
- aglutynacjacombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- aglutynacjaclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Portuguese aglutinação, aglutinação
- aglutinaçãoact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- aglutinaçãocombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- aglutinaçãoclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Romanian aglutinare, aglutinare
- aglutinareact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- aglutinarecombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- aglutinareclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Russian агглютина́ция, скле́ивание
- агглютина́ция (aggljutinácija)act of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- скле́ивание (skléivanije)act of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- агглютина́ция (aggljutinácija)combination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- агглютина́ция (aggljutinácija)clumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Spanish aglutinación, aglutinación
- aglutinaciónact of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance
- aglutinacióncombination in which root words are united with little or no change of form or loss of meaning
- aglutinaciónclumping together of red blood cells or bacteria
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with agglutination
Cite this entry
agglutination. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agglutination
“agglutination.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agglutination. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “agglutination,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agglutination.
Source: agglutination on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.