collaborator

American  

[kuh-lab-uh-rey-ter] / kəˈlæb əˌreɪ tər /

noun

1. a person who works or cooperates with another on something; a coauthor, coproducer, etc..

   She is currently at work on a new recording project with longtime collaborator Greg Timson.

2. a person who cooperates with an enemy nation or force, especially with an enemy occupying one’s country.

   Her book gives a detailed account of postwar Poland’s legal retribution against its Nazi collaborators.

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Etymology

Origin of collaborator

First recorded in 1800–10; from French collaborateur, equivalent to Late Latin collabōrāt(us) (past participle of collabōrāre ) + -or ² ( def. ); collaborate ( def. )

Example Sentences

“Simon is a collaborator in a process that’s entirely fluid.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

Behind the camera, Jacobs’ friend and occasional creative collaborator, Sofia Coppola, asks whether they’re favoring a serious look, or something more eccentric — in line with Jacobs’ reputation.

From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026

Scarcely believing the test results, Marsh told his friend and scientific collaborator Dr Lachie Scarsbrook, from the University of Oxford and LMU Munich, who takes up the story.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

Phil artist collaborator and currently director of the Metropolitan’s new hit production of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026

For Segre, a friend and collaborator of Enrico Fermi’s who was heading home to a professorship at Italy’s poverty-stricken University of Palermo, these pieces of radioactive shrapnel were priceless.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• assistant
• associate
• co-worker
• colleague