From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishaccretionac‧cre‧tion /əˈkriːʃən/ noun [countable, uncountable] formal 1 a layer of a substance which slowly forms on something2 a gradual process by which new things are added and something gradually changes or gets bigger
Examples from the Corpus
accretion• The public sector continued to grow through a process of bureaucratic accretion financed by economic growth.• This is perhaps because the later accretions are somewhat dwarfed amid the towering Gothic architecture.• The surface of the Moon is the result of accretion and of subsequent impacts and slow-acting erosional processes.• Erosion or accretion of sand by wind action is evident throughout and soil genesis is truncated by erosion or fossilised by deposition.• Coral growth and the accretion of sediments in coastal mangroves will compensate.From Longman Business Dictionaryaccretionac‧cre‧tion /əˈkriːʃən/ noun [countable, uncountable] a slow, gradual increase in an amount, level, value etcWe will solve our trade problem not by big contracts, but by an accretion of hundreds of smaller deals.Origin accretion (1600-1700) Latin accretio, from accrescere, from ad- “to” + crescere “to grow” 