gather

verb

1)

we gathered in the hotel lobby

Syn:

congregate, assemble, meet, collect, come/get together, convene, muster, rally, converge; cluster together, crowd, mass, flock together

Ant:

scatter

2)

she gathered her family together

Syn:

summon, call together, bring together, assemble, convene, rally, round up, muster, marshal

Ant:

disperse

3)

knickknacks he had gathered over the years

Syn:

collect, accumulate, amass, garner, accrue; store, stockpile, hoard, put away/by, lay by/in; informal stash away, squirrel away

4)

they gathered corn from the fields

Syn:

harvest, reap, crop; pick, pluck; collect

5)

the show soon gathered a fanatical following

Syn:

attract, draw, pull, pull in, collect, pick up

6)

I gather that environmentalism is the hot issue

Syn:

understand, be given to understand, believe, be led to believe, think, conclude, deduce, infer, assume, take it, surmise, fancy; hear, hear tell, learn, discover

7)

he gathered her to his chest

Syn:

clasp, clutch, pull, embrace, enfold, hold, hug, cuddle, squeeze; literary embosom

8)

his tunic was gathered at the waist

Syn:

pleat, shirr, pucker, tuck, fold, ruffle

••

gather, assemble, collect, congregate, convene, marshal, muster

Gather is the most general of these terms meaning to come or bring together. It implies bringing widely scattered things or people to one place but with no particular arrangement (to gather shells at the beach; to gather the family in the living room). Collect, on the other hand, implies both selectivity (to collect evidence for the trial) and organization (to collect butterflies as a hobby). To gather one's thoughts means to bring them together because they have been previously scattered; to collect one's thoughts is to organize them. Assemble pertains to objects or people who are brought together for a purpose (to assemble data for a report; to assemble Congress so that legislation will be passed), while congregate may be more spontaneous, done as a free choice (people congregated in front of the palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of the queen). Convene is a formal word meaning to assemble or meet in a body (to convene an international conference on the subject of global warming) Marshal and muster are usually thought of as military terms. Muster implies bringing together the parts or units of a force (troops mustered for inspection), and marshal suggests a very orderly and purposeful arrangement (to marshal the allied forces along the battle front).