collaborate

[kuh-lab-uh-reyt]

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

collaborate

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• collaborator noun
• collaborative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of collaborate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of collaborate¹

C19: from Late Latin collabōrāre, from Latin com- together + labōrāre to work

Example Sentences

Booking also works with Google’s AI product Gemini and Amazon.com’s Alexa, and is collaborating with Salesforce to use its large language model to power a concierge service through its restaurant reservation platform OpenTable.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The researchers also collaborated with the nonprofit Green Schoolyards America, which found in its own 2024 study that California’s public K-12 schoolyards have a median tree cover of just 6.4%.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The study was funded by a research grant from Mars, Inc., which collaborates with researchers to study potential benefits of cocoa flavanols for human health.

Read more on Science Daily

He moved to New York in the mid-’60s and joined Charles Lloyd’s quartet before collaborating with Evans and then with Davis.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He then collaborated with experts in planetary science and geology from the UK and the USA to analyze the evidence.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• collude 
• conspire 
• cooperate 
• hook up 
• participate 

When To Use

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.