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meaning - What is the difference between "accumulative" and "cumulative"?


I'm having a hard time understanding the real distinction between accumulative and cumulative.


accumulative



adjective



  1. tending to accumulate or arising from accumulation; cumulative.

  2. tending to accumulate wealth; acquisitive.



cumulative



adjective



  1. increasing or growing by accumulation or successive additions: the cumulative effect of one rejection after another.

  2. formed by or resulting from accumulation or the addition of successive parts or elements.

  3. of or pertaining to interest or dividends that, if not paid when due, become a prior claim for payment in the future: cumulative preferred stocks.



These definitions (and those from other dictionaries as well) say different things but I can't understand how they aren't really meaning the same thing.


Yet, when thinking about it, it seems there are some cases where it is distinctly more correct to use one or the other.


What's the difference, practically?



Answer



The big difference is that cumulative is far more common than accumulative. .


At the level of actual meaning, to the extent that accumulative is used at all, it tends to refer to someone/something doing the accumulating. By contrast, cumulative is more associated with that which is accumulated.


If the sense intended is acquisitive, just use that word. In all other cases, use cumulative.


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