Gather and integrate both bring things together, with a difference in what follows. Gather is the plain, broad word for bringing scattered things into one place. Integrate is to bring parts into a whole so that they work together as one, or to bring someone into full, equal membership. Gather collects things in one place; integrate makes them work or belong as one.
Both bring the scattered together, but one merely collects and the other makes the parts function. Gather is the everyday verb for bringing scattered things into one place — leaves, people, facts. Integrate, from integrare 'to make whole', fits parts so they operate as one system, or brings a person into full membership. You gather the fallen leaves into a heap; you integrate a new system so every part runs together. One collects things loosely; the other makes them work as one.
gather
To gather is to bring scattered things together into one place — leaves into a heap, papers off a desk, a crowd into a square. It is the plainest, most general member of its family: where you collect by careful selection and things accumulate almost on their own, you simply gather whatever is spread out and draw it in. From the Old English gaderian, 'to bring together', it serves the concrete (gather wood) and the abstract alike (gather evidence, gather your thoughts).
integrate
To integrate is to bring parts together so they function as one whole — from the Latin integrare, 'to make whole'. New software integrates with your calendar; a recruit integrates into a team; separated groups integrate into shared, equal community life. What is integrated stops being an add-on and becomes a working part of the system, the way a gear that meshes lets the whole train turn. It is stronger than to combine: the parts do not just sit together, they work together.
| gather | integrate | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | bring scattered things into one place | fit parts into one working whole; include |
| Depth | a loose collection in one place | the parts work or belong as one |
| The parts | collected, but not connected | distinct but working together |
| Often with | leaves, people, facts, a crowd | systems, communities, data, immigrants |
| Noun | a gathering | integration |
| Example | Gather the leaves. | Integrate the systems. |
Ask whether things are simply collected or made to work as one. Gather brings scattered things into one place — leaves raked into a loose heap that runs nothing together. Integrate fits a part so the whole works — a gear setting the row turning. If scattered things are simply collected, that is gather; if they are fitted so they work or belong as one, that is integrate.
gather
- iGather the leaves into a pile before it rains.
- iiA crowd gathered outside the gates.
- iiiShe gathered the facts she needed for the report.
integrate
- iThe company integrated the new software into its systems.
- iiSchools help newcomers integrate into the community.
- iiiThe report integrates data from a dozen sources.
Gather stops at collecting things in one place, loose and unconnected; integrate makes the collection work as one, and carries a social sense of belonging that gather lacks. Gathered data sit side by side; integrated data run together in one model. One collects; the other makes the collection function.
A clear pair for research and systems writing. Gather is the everyday word for collecting — 'gather the data', 'a crowd gathered'. Integrate is the deeper word for making parts work as one — 'integrate the data into one model', 'integrate the systems' — or people joining a society as equals. Examiners reward the depth: a gathering for loose collection, integration for a working or social whole. The nouns are a gathering and integration.