combine
/ˈkɒm.baɪn/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms combines combining combined the Combine
- verb (transitive) To bring (two or more things or activities) together; to unite. “Combine the milk and the hot water in a large bowl.”
- verb (transitive) To have two or more things or properties that function together. “Joe combines the intelligence of a rock with the honesty of a politician.”
- verb (intransitive) To come together; to unite. “two substances that easily combine”
- verb (card games) In the game of casino, to play a card which will take two or more cards whose aggregate number of pips equals those of the card played.
- verb (obsolete) To bind; to hold by a moral tie.
- noun Especially, a joint enterprise of whatever legal form for a purpose of business or in any way promoting the interests of the participants, sometimes with monopolistic or fraudulent intentions. “The telecom companies were accused of having formed an illegal combine in order to hike up the network charges.”
- noun An industrial conglomeration in a socialist country, particularly in the former Soviet bloc. “His grandmother worked in the stamping plant of the sheet and tin combine.”
- noun (art) An artwork falling between painting and sculpture, having objects embedded into a painted surface.
- noun (American football) A test match in which applicants play in the hope of earning a position on a professional football team.
- proper noun (colloquial) London Underground
Synonyms
synonyms at Thesaurus:coalesce kombinat trust corporate trust cartel combining unite compound aggregate blend flux mix conflate commingle immix fuse coalesce meld merge
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English combynyn, from Middle French combiner, from Late Latin combīnāre (“unite, yoke together”), from Latin con- (“together”) + bīnī (“two by two”).
From combine, referring to the merger and purchase of various underground railway, tram and bus companies in London, combining them into one organisation. Originally applied to Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd, since used for successor organisations.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To unite or join; to link closely together; to bring into harmonious union; to cause or unite so as to form a homogeneous, as by chemical union.
- verb To bind; to hold by a moral tie. [Obs.]
- verb To form a union; to agree; to coalesce; to confederate.
- verb To unite by affinity or natural attraction; as, two substances, which will not combine of themselves, may be made to combine by the intervention of a third.
Etymology [LL. combinare, combinatum; L. com- + binus, pl. bini, two and two, double: cf. F. combiner. See Binary.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “combine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details