collaborative

American  

[kuh-lab-uh-rey-tiv, -er-uh-tiv] / kəˈlæb əˌreɪ tɪv, -ər ə tɪv /

adjective

1. characterized or accomplished by cooperation or working together.

   collaborative methods;

   a collaborative report.

2. relating to or involving several organizations, groups, people, etc., working together for a common purpose.

   My doctor is now part of a collaborative practice.

   Modern policing is trending toward collaborative law enforcement, where police officers work hand-in-hand with community leaders and neighborhood associations.

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noun

1. a group of people working together for a common purpose.

   The collaborative of doctors was able to gather important new information about the illness by pooling anonymized patient data.

Usage

What does collaborative mean? Collaborative is an adjective that describes an effort in which people work together (that is, one in which they collaborate). Collaborative is often used in a positive context to refer to two or more parties successfully working together on a goal or shared project. It’s also increasingly used as a noun for an organized joint effort. Example: The groundbreaking new album was a collaborative effort by the two musicians, who usually have very different styles.

Other Word Forms

• collaboratively
  adverb
• uncollaborative
  adjective
• uncollaboratively
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of collaborative

collaborate + -ive

Explanation

The adjective collaborative describes something accomplished by working together with others. With a collaborative effort, a big job can be completed in very little time. When you collaborate, you cooperate, or join forces, with other people — working on a project, brainstorming ideas, even assigning responsibility for who will do what. So something that has these qualities is collaborative. From playing in a band to making a movie, feeding the students at a school to building a house, when you work toward a shared goal, it's collaborative.

Example Sentences

And that communication doesn’t have to be particularly pleasant, says Gabriella Pomare, a Sydney, Australia-based family lawyer and author of “The Collaborative Co-Parent.”

From MarketWatch • Mar. 9, 2026

Further out, the U.S. is working on its so-called Collaborative Combat Aircraft, a $6 billion program of drones that can accompany manned jets and operate autonomously.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

Eckdahl is now working with colleagues at UC Berkeley and other institutions as part of the Western Fire & Forest Collaborative to apply similar research methods in forests across the Western United States.

From Science Daily • Mar. 4, 2026

Horton was one of the first patients of a new women’s health initiative from UCLA’s Homeless Healthcare Collaborative at Union Rescue Mission.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026

Going down to the Collaborative Classroom, I was afraid that our whole class would act as the invasive species, sucking up all the happiness with our sour attitudes.

From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea