Assemblies

How to spell assemblies

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce assemblies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does assemblies mean?

1. nounGroups of people gathered together for a shared purpose, such as worship, debate, or instruction.
2. nounSets of parts fitted together to form complete working units.

Assemblies in a sentence

• The school holds weekly assemblies in the main hall.

• The factory ships the finished engine assemblies to dealers nationwide.

• Several public assemblies were called to discuss the new tax.

• Workers inspect each of the wiring assemblies before packing them.

Where does assemblies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin verb assimulare, an older form of which was adsimulare, meaning roughly 'to bring together', built from ad 'to' and simul 'together'. It passed into Old French as assembler, 'to gather or join', and English borrowed the verb 'assemble' in the 1200s, with the noun 'assembly' following soon after for a gathering of people. From the single 'assembly' the plural 'assemblies' is formed by the regular English rule that changes a final consonant plus -y into -ies. The same simul 'together' root still lives on in everyday words such as 'simultaneous' and 'resemble', which is a useful reminder that the heart of the word is about things being placed side by side. The spelling traps are the doubled s near the start and the unstressed middle, since the -sembl- is easy to slur in speech but must be written in full.

How the word is built

• as- (Latin ad-: to, together)
• -sembl- (from Latin simul: together)
• -y (noun)
• -ies (plural)