accretion

noun

1. (also, figuratively, uncountable)Increase by natural growth, especially the gradual increase of organic bodies by the internal addition of matter; organic growth; also, the amount of such growth.

   “Warwick was unable to perceive much change in the market-house. […] There might have been a slight accretion of the moss and lichen on the shingled roof.”

   “The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly-turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon.”

2. (uncountable)(Gradual) increase by an external addition of matter; (countable) an instance of this.

   “Near-synonym: accumulation”

   “A mineral augments not by growth, but by accretion.”

   “[…] Plants doe nouriſh; Inanimate Bodies doe not: They haue an Accretion, but no Alimentation.”

   “God hath from the beginning made all the Kindes of Hard, and Heavie, and Diaphanous Bodies that are, and of ſuch Figure and magnitude as he thought fit; but hovv ſmall ſoever, they may by accretion become greater in the Mine, or perhaps by generation, though vve knovv not hovv.”

3. (countable, uncountable)(Gradual) increase by an external addition of matter; (countable) an instance of this.
4. (also, figuratively, uncountable)Followed by of: external addition of matter to a thing which causes it to grow, especially in amount or size.

   “[W]hile ſome fevv grevv rich by turning Money in their ovvn Banks, there vvas a falſe Appearance of VVealth vvithin, but no Accretion of Riches from abroad.”

5. (uncountable)The process of separate particles aggregating or coalescing together; concretion; (countable) a thing formed in this manner.

   “The accretion of particles forms a solid mass.”

   “[T]he vvhole Country of Holland ſeems to be an Accretion partly by the Sea, partly by the River Rhine.”

   “She had no fear of the shadows; her sole idea seemed to be to shun mankind—or rather that cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in the mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units.”

6. (countable, uncountable)The process of separate particles aggregating or coalescing together; concretion; (countable) a thing formed in this manner.

   “This theory, known as pebble accretion, is reshaping how scientists think about the early solar system. […] "In many ways, pebble accretion is the most efficient way of adding mass to a body," says Lambrechts.”

7. (countable, figuratively)Something gradually added to or growing on a thing externally.

   “accretion of ice”

   “[T]hoſe places, vvhich vvere formerly filled vvith VVood, have buried the fallen Trees three, four, or five foot deep in the ground, by an accretion or cover of Earth, derived to them ſometimes by Alluvions or Floods, […]”

8. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Something gradually added to or growing on a thing externally.

   “Accretions of dirt on clothing are often left in place by conservators because they can provide additional details about the artefact’s importance or history.”

   “Pure Lust is a double-edged analysis of the evolution of feminist spiritual system. In Pure Lust Daly attempts to pare away the accretions of patriarchal ideology and reveal the fundamental elements of emerging feminist philosophy.”

9. (uncountable)Increase in property by the addition of other property to it (for example, gain of land by alluvion (“the deposition of sediment by a river or sea”) or dereliction (“recession of water from the usual watermark”), or entitlement to the products of the property such as interest on money); or by the property owner acquiring another person’s ownership rights; accession; (countable) an instance of this.
10. (uncountable)Increase of an inheritance to an heir or legatee due to the share of a co-heir or co-legatee being added to it, because the latter person is legally unable to inherit the share.