collect
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
collects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
collected,
past participle, past
-
collecting
present participle
-
to gather together; assemble.
The professor collected the students' exams.
-
to accumulate; make a collection of.
to collect stamps.
- Antonyms:
- scatter, distribute
-
to receive or compel payment of.
to collect a bill.
-
to regain control of (oneself or one's thoughts, faculties, composure, or the like).
At the news of her promotion, she took a few minutes to collect herself.
-
to call for and take with one: They collected their mail.
He drove off to collect his guests.
They collected their mail.
-
Manège. to bring (a horse) into a collected attitude.
-
Archaic. to infer.
verb (used without object)
-
collects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
collected,
past participle, past
-
collecting
present participle
-
to gather together; assemble.
The students collected in the assembly hall.
-
to accumulate.
Rainwater collected in the barrel.
-
to receive payment (often followed byon ).
He collected on the damage to his house.
-
to gather or bring together books, stamps, coins, etc., usually as a hobby.
He's been collecting for years.
-
Manège. (of a horse) to come into a collected attitude.
adjective
noun
verb
-
to gather together or be gathered together
-
to accumulate (stamps, books, etc) as a hobby or for study
-
(tr) to call for or receive payment of (taxes, dues, etc)
-
(tr) to regain control of (oneself, one's emotions, etc) as after a shock or surprise
he collected his wits
-
(tr) to fetch; pick up
collect your own post
he collected the children after school
-
slang to receive large sums of money, as from an investment
he really collected when the will was read
-
informal (tr) to collide with; be hit by
-
the US term for cash on delivery
adverb
noun
noun
Synonym Usage
See gather.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
collectsimple
-
collectssimple
-
have collectedperfect
-
has collectedperfect
-
am collectingprogressive
-
are collectingprogressive
-
is collectingprogressive
-
have been collectingperfect progressive
-
has been collectingperfect progressive
Past
-
collectedsimple
-
had collectedperfect
-
was collectingprogressive
-
were collectingprogressive
-
had been collectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of collect1
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin collēctus (past participle of colligere “to collect”), equivalent to col- “with, together” + leg- (stem of legere “to gather”) + -tus past participle suffix; see col- 1
Origin of collect2
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English collecte, from Old French collecte, colete, and Medieval Latin collecta, short for ōrātiō ad collēctam “prayer at collection”; see origin at collect 1
Explanation
The verb collect describes gathering or bringing something together. Charity organizations often collect warm coats for people in need. Other people who want to help those in need seek monetary donations. If you volunteer for a charity, you may collect on behalf of the charity — meaning you get donations. Collect can also refer to getting payment for money that is owed. If you owe money to someone, eventually he'll find you and say, "I'm here to collect."
Vocabulary lists containing collect
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
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"A Natural Balance" and "In My Dreams"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He was ordered to leave the headphones many hours' drive away in Poland where he noticed "a guy on a bicycle" collect them from beside the road.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Talks have been complicated by Iran’s demand to collect tolls from ships transiting the strait.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
In the 1970s, the US space agency carried out deliberate crashes during its Apollo program to collect seismic data.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
“It’s a completely overly intrusive way to collect discovery,” Robbins told Frimpong, noting that agents who had been deployed to L.A. were now scattered across the country.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Only, it might take a few weeks to collect them all, and some of the eggs might have a little bit of sand in them.”
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
Once their spring blooms are complete, Aggrey meticulously collects the seed pods from the clarkias, gilias and phacelias, processes the seeds and packages them for gifting before the subsequent spring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has described the phenomenon as a public health issue, even though his government collects billions of reais in taxes from the sector.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Base fees, or what BlackRock collects from clients for managing their money, rose 8% from a year earlier when stripping out the impact of market moves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
As tissues respond to those signals, the scanner collects the information needed to generate an image.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
Connor looks absolutely fascinated as he collects and filters water from a ravine.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
The millions of data points collected will create a 3D avatar of my body using AI.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Phillips 66 collected $3.8 billion, more than four times the profit it made during the same period last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The team studied a marine sediment core collected from International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1475 on the Agulhas Plateau, about 500 kilometers south of South Africa.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
It received a lifeline in April 2025, when the county announced that it would be disbursing the hospital $3 million collected via Measure B, which brought in about $427 million in fiscal year 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
I wonder if maybe I’ve collected all the cans?
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Honeybees regularly visit these same areas while collecting nectar and pollen, raising questions about what happens when they are exposed to weedkillers during their daily foraging.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
While the deal would exclude charging ships tolls or fees, Iran might not be prevented from collecting voluntary payments to cover costs like security and search and rescue, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Jenner hates the paparazzi for invading her privacy but sees no moral quandary in collecting a check from Mark Zuckerberg, who wants to invade everyone’s privacy.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
The ESA's Solar Orbiter probe, which launched in 2020, has been busy collecting data about the Sun's atmosphere and wind.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The scientists in 1980 measured the growth of the bulge over time from the Timberline and Coldwater II sites; scientists today are doing the same but collecting the information via satellites from space.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
