cu·mu·la·tive   (kyōōm'yə-lā'tĭv, -yə-lə-tĭv)    adj.   Increasing or enlarging by successive addition. Acquired by or resulting from accumulation. Of or relating to interest or a dividend that is added to the next payment if not paid when due. Law Supporting the same point as earlier evidence: cumulative evidence. Imposed with greater severity upon a repeat offender: cumulative punishment. Following successively; consecutive: cumulative sentences. Of or relating to the sum of the frequencies of experimentally determined values of a random variable that are less than or equal to a specified value. Of or relating to experimental error that increases in magnitude with each successive measurement. Statistics Of or relating to the sum of the frequencies of experimentally determined values of a random variable that are less than or equal to a specified value. Of or relating to experimental error that increases in magnitude with each successive measurement. cu'mu·la'tive·ly adv., cu'mu·la'tive·ness n.

Cumulative

Cu"mu*la*tive\ (k?"m?-l?-t?v), a. [Cf. F. cumulatif.]

1. Composed of parts in a heap; forming a mass; aggregated. "As for knowledge which man receiveth by teaching, it is cumulative, not original." --Bacon

2. Augmenting, gaining, or giving force, by successive additions; as, a cumulative argument, i. e., one whose force increases as the statement proceeds.

The argument . . . is in very truth not logical and single, but moral and cumulative. --Trench.

3. (Law) (a) Tending to prove the same point to which other evidence has been offered; -- said of evidence. (b) Given by same testator to the same legatee; -- said of a legacy. --Bouvier. --Wharton.

Cumulative action (Med.), that action of certain drugs, by virtue of which they produce, when administered in small doses repeated at considerable intervals, the same effect as if given in a single large dose.

Cumulative poison, a poison the action of which is cumulative.

Cumulative vote or system of voting (Politics), that system which allows to each voter as many votes as there are persons to be voted for, and permits him to accumulate these votes upon one person, or to distribute them among the candidates as he pleases.

cumulative 

cumulative

Of or relating to preferred stock and income bonds on which dividends must be paid in full before any payment of dividends is made to common stockholders. Thus, any dividends that are passed eventually must be brought up to date before common stockholders may receive payments. Nearly all issues of preferred stock are cumulative. Compare noncumulative. See also dividends in arrears.

Main Entry: cu·mu·la·tive
Pronunciation: 'kyü-my&-l&-tiv, -"lA-
Function: adjective
1 : increasing by successive additions
2 : tending to prove the same point <cumulative testimony>
3 : following in time

Main Entry: cu·mu·la·tive
Pronunciation: 'kyü-my&-l&t-iv, -"lAt-
Function: adjective
: increasing in effect by successivedoses (as of a drug or poison) <cumulative poisoning by organochlorine pesticides —Jack Clincy> —cu·mu·la·tive·ly adverb

cumulative cu·mu·la·tive (ky&oomacr;m'yə-lā'tĭv, -yə-lə-tĭv)
adj.

1. Increasing or enlarging by successive addition.
2. Acquired by or resulting from accumulation.
3. Of or relating to the sum of the frequencies of experimentally determined values of a random variable that are less than or equal to a specified value.
4. Of or relating to experimental error that increases in magnitude with each successive measurement.