collected

American  

[kuh-lek-tid] / kəˈlɛk tɪd /

adjective

1. having control of one's faculties; self-possessed.

   Despite all the turmoil around him, Bob remained calm and collected.

2. brought or placed together; forming an aggregation from various sources.

   the money collected to build an orphanage; the collected essays of Thoreau.

3. Manège.

   1. (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.

   2. (of a gait of such a horse) characterized by short, elevated strides.

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collected British  

/ kəˈlɛktɪd /

adjective

1. in full control of one's faculties; composed

2. assembled in totality or brought together into one volume or a set of volumes

   the collected works of Dickens

3. (of a horse or a horse's pace) controlled so that movement is in short restricted steps

   a collected canter

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collected Idioms  

1. see cool, calm, and collected.

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Related Words

See calm.

Other Word Forms

• collectedly adverb
• collectedness noun
• uncollected adjective
• well-collected adjective

Etymology

Origin of collected

First recorded in 1600–10; collect ¹ + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Gas prices in Canada are nearly one-third higher compared with a month ago, according to data collected by the Canadian Automobile Association.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

The Scottish government sets business rates, called non-domestic rates, though the tax is collected by councils to fund local services.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

Experts describe “surveillance wages” as a system in which wages are based not on an employee’s performance or seniority, but on formulas that use their personal data, often collected without employees’ knowledge.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026

These cans contained fillets from four species collected over a 42-year span in the Gulf of Alaska and Bristol Bay.

From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026

By noon the next day, a floral arrangement from the school was delivered to our door along with twelve hundred dollars that the school had collected to help with funeral costs.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson