An assemblage is a collection of things gathered together, often in an interesting or artistic way. When a sculptor creates an assemblage, she might combine old bicycle parts, driftwood, and pieces of metal into a single artwork. When an archaeologist discovers an assemblage of ancient tools at a dig site, he's found a group of objects that were used together long ago.

The word emphasizes how items come together to form something meaningful. A museum might display an assemblage of artifacts from different cultures. An artist might create an assemblage from found objects collected on a beach. In science, researchers study assemblages of plants or animals that naturally occur together in an ecosystem.

Assemblage is closely related to assembly, but there's a subtle difference. An assembly often suggests people gathering or things being put together systematically, like an assembly line in a factory. An assemblage, by contrast, suggests a looser, more varied collection where the individual pieces remain distinct and interesting on their own. Think of it as the difference between students sitting in neat rows at an assembly and a fascinating assemblage of seashells, rocks, and sea glass arranged on a table, each piece contributing to the whole while keeping its own character.