英音[ə'kri:ʃən];美音[ə'kriʃən]
An increase by natural growth or addition
n.堆积,积累,自然增长
同义addition, increment反义decrement动词accrete
解析:accretion来源于ac-(使)+-cret-(增长)+-ion(后缀),其字面意思为使增长,即“增长、堆积”之意。
●addition, increment与accretion都有“增加、添加”之意。
addition意为两样东西相加,尤指数目的相加。例如:This brought an addition of 200 yuan to the original estimate.(这比原来的估价增加了200元。)
increment指货币或价值的增加。例如:This fascination has increased with every in-crement in our knowledge of them.(这种诱惑随着我们对它们认识的深化而逐步增强。)
accretion为正式用语,尤指添加外层附属物。例如:The accretion of population has really caused many serious problems.(人口的增长确实造成了很多严重的问题。)