colleague
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does colleague mean? A colleague is someone you work with or someone who’s in the same profession as you, especially a peer within that profession.Colleague can be a synonym for coworker, which is someone who has the same employer as you. But it also used to refer to people who have different employers but who work in the same or a very similar profession, especially when they regularly interact or share knowledge. For example, two medical researchers who work for different universities but who collaborate to publish research findings would be called colleagues.Example: Sarah has received an outpouring of support from her fellow attorneys at the firm as well as many of her colleagues in the legal community.
Other Word Forms
- colleagueship noun
Etymology
Origin of colleague
First recorded in 1515–25; from Middle French collegue, from Latin collēga, equivalent to col- “with, together” ( col- 1 ) + -lēga, derivative of legere “to choose, gather”
Compare meaning
How does colleague compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
Mitford transferred in 1943 to the agency’s San Francisco branch and married a colleague, Robert Treuhaft.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
Hughes and his colleague Chris Cooper-Hayes, who has a professional background in landscaping, have founded Eterrna, a venture they hope could become the very first to offer human composting in the UK.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
As my colleague Connor Smith points out, the Nasdaq and Dow are still in correction territory, with the Dow notching its worst monthly performance since September 2022.
From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026
James was Burden’s colleague, a senior associate who at the time was handling, with Burden’s help, the IPO for an internet holding company.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026
The drama sponsor, a woman named Joan Mott, a “very nice person” and his colleague on the English faculty, was staging a scene and blocking the actors.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
