What does aggregately mean?
"Aggregately" is a formal adverb meaning "as a whole" or "taken collectively." It directs attention to a combined total rather than to individual parts: costs, damages, donations, or other quantities regarded aggregately are summed into a single figure. The word derives from the Latin grex ("flock" or "herd"), the same root behind "aggregate," "congregate," and "gregarious," and it entered English alongside that family of terms. Today it appears most often in legal opinions, financial reports, and statistical analyses, where precision about whether an amount applies to each case separately or to all cases combined genuinely matters. Because it is rare outside these registers, writers aiming for everyday clarity usually prefer phrases such as "in total" or "taken together." Still, "aggregately" remains useful when a single, compact word must signal that a statement concerns the sum of many items rather than any one of them.
adverbAs a whole; taken collectively or in the aggregate rather than individually.
- Taken as a whole or in total, rather than item by item or person by person.
"The damages, considered aggregately across all claimants, exceeded ten million dollars."
"The fines imposed on the company, aggregately, amounted to nearly half its annual revenue."
"Viewed aggregately, the small donations of thousands of supporters funded the entire project."
While its cousin "aggregate" does all the heavy lifting in modern English, "aggregately" survives as a formal legal-and-financial way of saying "all of it added up together."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of aggregately
"Aggregately" comes from "aggregate," which traces back to Latin aggregare, "to flock together" or "add to a group," formed from ad- ("toward") plus grex, gregis ("flock, herd"). The same root gives English "congregate," "segregate," and "gregarious." The adverbial form arose in English by the standard addition of the -ly suffix, appearing in formal and legal usage several centuries ago, though it has always been far less common than its parent word.
Related word forms
How aggregately is actually used
Formal and somewhat rare; found chiefly in legal, financial, and statistical writing where totals are contrasted with individual amounts. In everyday prose, "in total," "collectively," or "taken together" are more natural choices.
Easily confused with aggregately
"Aggregate" is the noun/adjective/verb referring to a total or sum, while "aggregately" is the rarer adverb describing how something is viewed — as one combined whole.