collected
Americanadjective
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having control of one's faculties; self-possessed.
Despite all the turmoil around him, Bob remained calm and collected.
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brought or placed together; forming an aggregation from various sources.
the money collected to build an orphanage; the collected essays of Thoreau.
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Manège.
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(of a moving horse) noting a compact pose in which the legs are well under the body, the head is arched at the poll, the jaw is relaxed, etc.
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(of a gait of such a horse) characterized by short, elevated strides.
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adjective
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in full control of one's faculties; composed
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assembled in totality or brought together into one volume or a set of volumes
the collected works of Dickens
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(of a horse or a horse's pace) controlled so that movement is in short restricted steps
a collected canter
Related Words
See calm.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of collected
Explanation
Use the adjective collected to describe a person who stays cool and calm, even under pressure. There are certain people who always seem completely self-possessed and unflappable no matter what is going on around them. You can describe these people as collected. If a kid throws up on the school bus and the driver is unruffled, he is collected. A confident, poised trapeze artist is also collected. If you're upset, you might say, "I need to collect myself," and once you have calmed yourself, you are collected.
Vocabulary lists containing collected
Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet
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Lesson 17
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Black Brother, Black Brother
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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.
No Premier League club has won more points than the 33 Manchester United have collected since Carrick's appointment on 13 January.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
Researchers reexamined fossils collected in Corumbá and also analyzed newly studied material from Bonito in the Serra da Bodoquena region.
From Science Daily • May 12, 2026
The process forms clumps that sink to the bottom, creating a dense biomass layer that can be collected and removed more easily.
From Science Daily • May 12, 2026
During that funding lapse, there was no CPI data collected in October, which meant that BLS staff penciled in a zero for that month’s housing inflation.
From Barron's • May 11, 2026
Misha asked Anya if she was okay, and she yelled that she was, and he didn’t say anything else as she collected a coat from her room.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
