Meaning & use
conglomerate
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
A very large business group made up of many separate companies, often working in unrelated industries.
Grammar: Countable: a media conglomerate; several conglomerates.
Patterns
- a conglomerate of something
- a conglomerate that owns something
The conglomerate owns hotels, an airline and a chain of supermarkets.
A Japanese conglomerate bought the struggling electronics firm.
The family-run conglomerate employs thousands of people across Asia.
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
A sedimentary rock made of rounded pebbles and stones cemented together by finer material.
Grammar: Countable for a type of rock, uncountable for the material.
Patterns
- a conglomerate of pebbles
The cliff face is made of conglomerate full of smooth pebbles.
Geologists examined a sample of conglomerate from the river valley.
The conglomerate shows that a fast river once ran here.
nouncountableformal
A mixed collection of different things gathered into one mass.
Grammar: Usually followed by of: a conglomerate of styles.
Patterns
- a conglomerate of something
The festival was a conglomerate of music, food and craft stalls.
Her style is a conglomerate of several traditions.
The city is a conglomerate of former villages.
Word forms
| plural | conglomerates |
|---|
Common combinations
- media conglomerate
- The media conglomerate owns newspapers and television channels.
- industrial conglomerate
- The industrial conglomerate makes everything from ships to toasters.
- global conglomerate
- A global conglomerate acquired the local brewery.
- form a conglomerate
- The firms merged to form a conglomerate.
- a conglomerate of companies
- The brand is a conglomerate of companies under one owner.
Synonyms and how they differ
- corporation
- Corporation is any large company, while conglomerate specifically suggests many differing businesses under one owner.
- group
- Group is a plainer word that does not stress how varied the businesses are.
- consortium
- A consortium is a temporary alliance of separate companies for one project, not a single owner of many firms.
- mishmash
- Mishmash is informal and implies a messy mix, while conglomerate can be a neutral term.
Word family
- conglomerate verb
- to gather into a mass
- conglomeration noun
- a mixed collection of things
- conglomerated adjective
- gathered into a mass
- megacorporation noun
- an extremely large company
Commonly confused: conglomerate or merger?
conglomerate vs merger
A merger is the act of two companies joining, while a conglomerate is the large group that results from many acquisitions.
Practice
Which description best fits a conglomerate?
Choose one answer.
A conglomerate combines many companies, often in unrelated fields. A small shop and a regulator are not groups of firms, and a conglomerate rock contains pebbles, not only clay.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “conglomerate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.