collection

[kuh-lek-shuhn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR collection ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

something that is collected; a group of objects or an amount of material accumulated in one location, especially for some purpose or as a result of some process: a stamp collection; a collection of unclaimed hats in the checkroom; a collection of books on Churchill.

the works of art constituting the holdings of an art museum: a history of the museum and of the collection.

the gathered or exhibited works of a single painter, sculptor, etc.: an excellent Picasso collection.

collections, the various holdings of an art museum organized by category, as painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, or film: the director of the collections.

the clothes or other items produced by a designer, especially for a seasonal line: the spring collection.

a sum of money collected, especially for charity or church use.

Manège. act of bringing or coming into a collected attitude.

Origin of collection

1350–1400; Middle English colleccioun (< Anglo-French) < Latin collēctiōn- (stem of collēctiō), equivalent to collēct(us) (past participle of colligere; see collect¹) + -iōn- -ion

Related formscol·lec·tion·al, adjectivenon·col·lec·tion, nounpre·col·lec·tion, nounsub·col·lec·tion, noun

Synonyms for collection

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR collection ON THESAURUS.COM

2. accumulation, aggregation, mass, heap, pile, hoard, store. 7. contribution(s), alms.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for collection

selection, compilation, number, set, assemblage, lot, assortment, store, gathering, crowd, cluster, digest, combination, anthology, pile, hoard, stock, levy, assembly, agglomeration

Examples from the Web for collection

Contemporary Examples of collection

The collection includes kimono capes and hand woven jump overalls.
The Photographer Who Gave Up Manhattan for Marrakech
Liza Foreman
January 6, 2015
Speaking of the literature you love, the Bloomsbury writers crop up in your collection repeatedly.
Daphne Merkin on Lena Dunham, Book Criticism, and Self-Examination
Mindy Farabee
December 26, 2014
In 2011, the rapper-turned-self parody debuted his first collection, Dw Kanye West.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s Balmain Campaign: High Fashion Meets Low Culture
Amy Zimmerman
December 23, 2014
She reassumed slave posture while Couple grabbed two magnetized clamps and a collection of circular magnets from a nearby shelf.
Dungeons and Genital Clamps: Inside a Legendary BDSM Chateau
Ian Frisch
December 20, 2014
It houses more than 450,000 bottles of 15,000 elixirs within its collection valued at 25 million euros in 2009.
Inside The World’s 10 Oldest Restaurants
Justin Jones
December 20, 2014

Historical Examples of collection

He went all over me, taking up a collection, and did first-rate.
Punchinello, Vol. 1. No. 20, August 13, 1870
Various
I am hoping that some readers will look on this collection primarily as a book of poems.
The Garden of Bright Waters
Various
Not improbably, the public may yet be gratified with this collection.
Other Tales and Sketches
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A collection of German stories emitted a scent of brimstone.
Earth's Holocaust (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Still, I added to the collection to-day," pursued Miss Whitmore, calmly.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower

British Dictionary definitions for collection

collection

noun

the act or process of collecting

a number of things collected or assembled together

a selection of clothes, esp as presented by a particular designer for a specified season

something gathered into a mass or pile; accumulationa collection of rubbish

a sum of money collected or solicited, as in church

removal, esp regular removal of letters from a postbox

(often plural) (at Oxford University) a college examination or an oral report by a tutor

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for collection

late 14c., "action of collecting," from Old French collection (14c.), from Latin collectionem (nominative collectio) "a gathering together," noun of action from colligere (see collect). Especially of money gathered for religious or charitable purposes from 1530s. Meaning "a group of objects viewed as a whole" is from c.1400.