assemblage

assemblage 1 assembly, collection, congregation, gathering (see under GATHER)

Analogous words: *aggregate, aggregation: *crowd, throng, horde, crush, press

2 Assemblage, assembly are not always interchangeable in concrete use.

Assemblage may be used freely in reference either to persons or to things

{

an assemblage of farmers from every section of the state

}

{

an assemblage of the city’s manufactured products for exhibition

}

It may imply a unit that is a collection of individuals of the same general kind or one that is a whole formed by the union of miscellaneous things

{

an assemblage of logs

}

{

an automobile is an assemblage of various distinct parts

}

It may be applied to something that can be seen as a unit or whole or that can be conceived as such

{

we have just been picturing nature as an assemblage of particles set in a framework of space and time— Jeans

}

Assembly, on the other hand, was until recently restricted in its application to a group of persons who gather together in a given place usually for the purpose of acting as a unit or of social enjoyment or, in a more specific sense, in order to serve as a deliberative or legislative body

{

the mayor decided to call an assembly of the citizens

}

{

the New York State Assembly

}

There is a tendency to use assembly instead of assemblage of a structure or machine and especially of part of a machine that is formed by the union of different parts

{

a hub assembly

}

Analogous words: (see those at ASSEMBLAGE 1)