collaborate

American  

[kuh-lab-uh-reyt] / kəˈlæb əˌreɪt /

verb (used without object)

collaborated, collaborating

1. to work, one with another; cooperate, as on a literary work.

   They collaborated on a novel.

2. to cooperate with an enemy nation, especially with an enemy occupying one's country.

   He collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

   Synonyms:

   abet, assist, join, collude

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collaborate British  

/ kəˈlæbəˌreɪt /

verb

1. to work with another or others on a joint project

2. to cooperate as a traitor, esp with an enemy occupying one's own country

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Usage

What does collaborate mean? Collaborate means to work together, especially on a goal or shared project.Collaborate 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 more than just cooperation. When two or more people collaborate, they often share and develop each other’s ideas.The act of collaborating is called collaboration. Such a joint effort can be described with the adjective collaborative. People who collaborate are called collaborators.Collaborate can also be used in a much more specific way meaning to cooperate as a traitor with enemy forces in one’s own country. This is much less commonly used than its general sense.Example: The two musicians, who usually have very different styles, collaborated on the groundbreaking new album.

Other Word Forms

• collaborative adjective
• collaborator noun

Etymology

Origin of collaborate

First recorded in 1870–75; from Late Latin collabōrātus (past participle of collabōrāre), equivalent to col- col- ¹ + labor “work” + -ātus -ate ¹

Compare meaning

How does collaborate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• corroborate vs. collaborate

Example Sentences

Of the more than 300 emerging companies collaborating with the research and development department of Israel's defence ministry, "over 130 joined our operations during the war", Director General Amir Baram said in December.

From Barron's

Researchers from Bournemouth University collaborated on a large review that examined findings from multiple earlier studies exploring the relationship between diet and mental health.

From Science Daily

Overnight Monday, Infosys said it was collaborating with Anthropic to provide the use of AI agents, first tailored to specific operations of clients in the telecommunications industry.

From MarketWatch

My friends, I agree—but on what are you proposing to collaborate?

From The Wall Street Journal

Infosys said in a press release on Tuesday that it would collaborate with Anthropic to develop AI agents for telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, and software development companies.

From Barron's

Related Words

• collude
• conspire
• cooperate
• hook up
• participate