verb, to unite in or as if in a mixture of elements, especially, to merge into a single body
On her latest album, the artist has amalgamated several different styles of music.
The noun "amalgam" derives, by way of Middle French, from Medieval Latin amalgama. It was first used in the 15th century with the meaning "mixture of mercury and another metal." (Today, you are likely to encounter this sense in the field of dentistry; amalgams can be used for filling holes in teeth.) Over time, use of "amalgam" broadened to included any mixture of elements, and by the 18th century, the word was also being applied figuratively, as in "an amalgam of citizens." The verb "amalgamate" has been in use since at least 1617. It, too, can be used either technically, implying the creation of an alloy of mercury, or more generally for the formation of any compound or combined entity.
hugs always
karen charlie and enzo
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