collaboration

American  

[kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuhn] / kəˌlæb əˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of working together or cooperating.

   Chat tools provide opportunity for real-time collaboration and dialogue.

2. a product resulting from working together or cooperating.

   This dictionary is a collaboration of many minds.

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collaboration British  

/ kəˌlæbəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of working with another or others on a joint project

2. something created by working jointly with another or others

3. the act of cooperating as a traitor, esp with an enemy occupying one's own country

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Usage

What does collaboration mean? Collaboration is the act of working together, especially on a goal or shared project. It can also be used to refer to a product of collaboration, as in The new single is a  collaboration from the two pop stars. Collaboration is the noun form of the verb collaborate, meaning to work together. Collaboration is often used in a positive context to refer to two or more parties successfully working together on professional or artistic projects. It often implies not just cooperation but sharing and developing of each other’s ideas. Such a joint effort can be described with the adjective collaborative. People who collaborate are called collaborators. Collaboration can also be used in a much more specific way referring to cooperation as a traitor with enemy forces in one’s own country. This is much less commonly used than its general sense. Example: This project would not have happened without close collaboration between all the departments. 

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncollaboration
  noun
• collaborationist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of collaboration

First recorded in 1855–60; from French, from Late Latin collabōrāt ( us ) ( see collaborate) + French -ion -ion

Explanation

When you join a group of friends to build a huge sandcastle on the beach, your impressive structure is the result of collaboration, or working together toward a common goal. Working with another person — or a group of people — to make something together is collaboration. You can also describe the result of your work, like the elaborately decorated cake you made with your best friend, as a collaboration. During World War II, the word collaboration began being used to mean "working traitorously with an enemy," and became a very serious crime.

Example Sentences

But, it added, "ultimately, the foundation did not pursue any collaboration with Epstein and no fund was ever created".

From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026

The team then examined human brain tissue from the UF Neuromedicine Brain and Tissue Bank in collaboration with Stefan Prokop, M.D.

From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026

The exhibit is the second curatorial collaboration between Martin and Philbin since 2015, when they partnered on “The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris” at the Hammer Museum.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

The collaboration will help Broadcom offer customized accelerators and networking solutions to frontier AI labs like Anthropic and OpenAI.

From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026

The fairest assessment is that the collaboration worked so well because questions of primacy never occurred to Madison.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• association
• collusion
• combination
• concert
• participation
• partnership
• teamwork