collective
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.done by or belonging to all the people in a group together.
adj.relating to or done by all members of a group as a single body.
Simple“The team made a collective decision to donate their prize money to charity.”
In context“The success of the project was the result of a collective effort, requiring seamless coordination between the design and engineering departments.”
Usageusually placed before the noun
Antonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
n.a group of people who work together on a project or business and share the profits and control.
n.a cooperative enterprise or organisation owned and managed by its members.
Simple“She joined an artists' collective to share studio space and organize exhibitions.”
In context“The workers formed a collective to manage the factory after the original owners declared bankruptcy, ensuring that every employee had a vote in major decisions.”
Teacher's tipOften used in political or artistic contexts to describe non-hierarchical organisations.
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
n.a word that represents a group of people or things but is used in the singular form.
n.a collective noun; a noun that denotes a group of individuals.
Simple“'Team' and 'family' are examples of collective nouns.”
In context“In British English, a collective noun like 'staff' is often followed by a plural verb, whereas American English typically prefers the singular.”
Usagerefers specifically to the linguistic category
Synonymscollective noun - 04 C2 Proficiency
n.the lever a pilot uses to make a helicopter go up or down.
n.the flight control that changes the pitch of all main rotor blades simultaneously to control altitude.
Simple“The pilot pulled up on the collective to lift the helicopter off the ground.”
In context“To maintain a steady hover, the pilot must precisely coordinate inputs between the collective, the cyclic, and the anti-torque pedals.”
Synonymscollective pitch control
Usage collective action · collective effort
“On July 30, the ministry had announced the creation of the Multinational Maritime Defense Alliance as a framework to strengthen collective maritime defence cooperation.”
“The album title references the number of years since this collective originally convened on a fundraiser for New York’s Jazz gallery.”
From Middle French collectif, from Latin collēctīvus, from collēctus, past participle of colligō (“I collect”), from com- (“together”) + legō (“I gather”). Compare French collectif. Doublet of colectivo.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.