lexicow

assemble

/əˈsembl//əˈsembl/·verb

to fit parts together into a whole; to gather in one place

I watch the boards of a bookcase lying scattered and tilted, loose timber going nowhere. Then, in order, they fly in and lock true — the base, the two sides, the shelves, the top — until a square cabinet stands where the pile was. A few books slide onto a shelf, and the heap of parts is suddenly a thing you could use.
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Definition

To assemble is to bring parts together in order so they form one built thing — assemble a shelf, assemble an engine — or to bring people together in one place, as a crowd assembles or a committee assembles. From the Latin ad- 'to' and simul 'together'. Assembling is more deliberate than to gather: the parts are fitted in a set order, each in its place, until a working whole stands. What you gather is loose; what you assemble is put together on purpose.

Examples

  • It took an afternoon to assemble the flat-pack wardrobe from its forty parts.
  • The whole school assembled in the hall for the announcement.
  • Engineers assembled the telescope's mirror from thirty-six separate segments.

Collocations

assemble the parts· assemble a team· an assembly line· self-assembly· assemble in one place

Synonyms

gather· convene· construct· collect· muster

Antonyms

disassemble· scatter· disperse

Word family

assembly (noun)· assembled (adjective)· assemblage (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

Keep the verb and noun apart: you assemble (verb) the parts, and the result — or the gathering, or the lawmaking body, or the factory line — is an assembly (noun). Assemble is more purposeful than gather: gathered things are loose, assembled ones are fitted in order. It is both transitive (assemble the shelf) and intransitive (the crowd assembled). 'Self-assembly' spans flat-pack furniture and, in science, parts that organize themselves.

FAQ

What is the difference between 'assemble' and 'assembly'?
Assemble is the verb — to put parts together, or to gather. Assembly is the noun, and it carries several senses: the act or result of assembling, a gathering of people (a school assembly), a lawmaking body (the General Assembly), and the factory 'assembly line' where a product is built stage by stage. One verb, a noun that fans out into many meanings.
What does 'assembly' mean?
Depending on context, four things: a meeting or gathering of people (morning assembly); an assembly line, where parts are fitted together in stages; a legislative assembly, an elected body that makes laws; and the assembled unit of a machine itself. They all trace back to the verb — people or parts brought together into one.
What is the difference between assemble and gather?
Gather is looser and often spontaneous — you gather materials, and a crowd gathers on its own. Assemble is more structured and purposeful, and it uniquely means to fit parts into a whole, which gather cannot: in the scene above the pieces are assembled into a shelf, not merely gathered. The tell: you gather the parts first, then assemble them.
How do you pronounce assemble?
uh-SEM-buhl (/əˈsembl/) — three syllables, stress on the middle one. The first a is a weak schwa, not 'AY', and the double s is a single /s/. The ending is a soft -buhl. The related noun assembly keeps the same stressed middle: uh-SEM-blee.
What is the past tense of assemble?
Assembled — a regular verb (assemble, assembled, assembling, assembles). The silent -e drops before -ing, giving assembling, and the l is never doubled, because the stress does not fall on the final syllable — unlike 'travel', which becomes 'travelling' in British English.
What does 'self-assembly' mean?
In everyday use, self-assembly is flat-pack furniture you build yourself from parts and instructions — a self-assembly wardrobe. In science, it means components spontaneously organizing into an ordered structure with no outside direction, as proteins and crystals do. Both keep the core idea: separate parts coming together into one fitted whole.