cumulative Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite increasing by successive addition
    accumulative.
    • the benefits are cumulative
    • the eventual accumulative effect of these substances

WordNet

Cu"mu*la*tive adjective
Etymology
Cf. F. cumulatif.
Definitions
  1. Composed of parts in a heap; forming a mass; agregated. "As for knowledge which man receiveth by teaching, it is cumulative, njt original." Bacon
  2. Augmenting, gaining, or giving force, by successive additions; as, a cumulative argument, i. e., one whose force increases as the statement proceeds.
    The argument . . . is in very truth not logical and single, but moral and cumulative. Trench.
  3. (Law) (a) Tending to prove the same point to which other evidence has been offered; -- said of evidence. (b) Given by same testator to the same legatee; -- said of a legacy. Bouvier. Wharton.

Webster 1913