collaborate
Americanverb (used without object)
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collaborates,
present (3rd person singular)
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collaborated,
past participle, past
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collaborating
present participle
verb
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to work with another or others on a joint project
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to cooperate as a traitor, esp with an enemy occupying one's own country
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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collaboratesimple
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collaboratessimple
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have collaboratedperfect
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has collaboratedperfect
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am collaboratingprogressive
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are collaboratingprogressive
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is collaboratingprogressive
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have been collaboratingperfect progressive
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has been collaboratingperfect progressive
Past
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collaboratedsimple
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had collaboratedperfect
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was collaboratingprogressive
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were collaboratingprogressive
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had been collaboratingperfect progressive
Future
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:
Explanation
When you work together on shared goal, you collaborate. If you don't just split a project up evenly but work together on creating solutions, you collaborate. Inside the word you see co-labor, or "working together." Cooperation is simply splitting up the work and getting it done. Collaboration is when you brainstorm, create, and share possible solutions. During World War II, however, Nazi collaborators were sharing ideas with the wrong side. In today's pop music scene, collaboration means featuring a guest star on a record, and it's often a surefire way to boost sales.
Vocabulary lists containing collaborate
100 Top "SAT" Words
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The key is how well UWM and Oaktree are willing to collaborate, said Jennifer McGuinness-Lubbert, CEO of mortgage asset-management firm Pivot Financial.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The California air taxi startup Archer Aviation is set to acquire Boeing’s Wisk Aero in an agreement that would allow the companies to collaborate and share technology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Riot is trying to go above and beyond to make its office space an attractive place to collaborate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
That has helped dental and medical providers collaborate around a shared patient record, and allows patients to see their oral and medical information via a single patient portal, says Chief Executive Stephen V. Thorne IV.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
He needed someone who could collaborate with MTI to pare down the show, simplify some of the music and set, while still pulling off a production that would impress Mackintosh.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Project Glasswing collaborates with cybersecurity firms like CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks to adapt Mythos for defense.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
It is also a founding member of the VPN Trust Initiative and collaborates with cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt to refine breach response protocols and educate users on data safety.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026
He specializes in analyzing data and public records to find stories and collaborates with reporters who cover many subjects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
Dimiter Petsev, a professor in the UNM Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, frequently collaborates with Alexandrov on materials science research.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2026
He too is training souls, and collaborates with all the other teachers in the moral preparation and advancement of mankind.
From The Reform of Education by Giovanni Gentile
The Oscar-winning actor reflects on a lifetime of work with the filmmaker, with whom she collaborated on ‘Blue Velvet,’ ‘Wild at Heart’ and ‘Inland Empire.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
More importantly, on none had he collaborated so completely as he did here with other musicians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Young, who collaborated with Nike and English footballer Ella Toone on a nail project, thinks we're "in a time where we're bridging the gap between sports and fashion".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Sipe of the University of Toronto, who collaborated with the researchers on an earlier project, had predicted that such an "electron lighthouse" could be created.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
I worked night and day to get it right, often with one of my colleagues, engineer Al Hamer, whom I collaborated with on several reports.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Brands have long been associated with this approach, with many collaborating with athletes and stars from other sports.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
GM is also collaborating with “leading companies” such as Lockheed Martin to support the defense industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
After reviewing more than 20 years of stranding records and preserved tissue samples, researchers at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and collaborating institutions identified three Helicobacter genotypes that had never been documented before.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
Van der Velden says the company is also collaborating with Hollywood directors and producers who have asked not to be identified publicly, fearing backlash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
He took a personal interest in her, because some of his friends were collaborating in experiments to measure her diameter by Michelson’s interferometer.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
