collection

American  

[kuh-lek-shuhn] / kəˈlɛk ʃən /

noun

• collections
  plural

1. the act of collecting.

2. 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 collection of unclaimed hats in the checkroom;

   a stamp collection;

   a collection of unclaimed hats in the checkroom;

   a collection of books on Churchill.

   Synonyms:

   store, hoard, pile, heap, mass, aggregation, accumulation

3. the works of art constituting the holdings of an art museum.

   a history of the museum and of the collection.

4. the gathered or exhibited works of a single painter, sculptor, etc..

   an excellent Picasso collection.

5. 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.

6. the clothes or other items produced by a designer, especially for a seasonal line.

   the spring collection.

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

   Synonyms:

   alms, contribution(s)

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

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collection British  

/ kəˈlɛkʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of collecting

2. a number of things collected or assembled together

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

4. something gathered into a mass or pile; accumulation

   a collection of rubbish

5. a sum of money collected or solicited, as in church

6. removal, esp regular removal of letters from a postbox

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncollection
  noun
• precollection
  noun
• subcollection
  noun
• collectional
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• collections
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of collection

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English colleccioun, from Anglo-French, from Latin collēctiōn-, stem of collēctiō “a gathering together,” from collēct(us) “gathered together” (past participle of colligere; see collect ¹) + -iō -ion

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Explanation

A collection is a group of things, often a group created by someone. For example, many kids have a collection of comic books. Notice the word collect in collection. If you like to collect — that is, gather — things, chances are you might have a collection of some sort. Some common types of collections are of books, stamps, and dolls. You can also refer to a museum's "collection of art." While you might call a group of people a gathering, you would call a group of rare coins a collection.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

collection collections

Then there’s my increasingly substantial frozen vegetable collection.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

In October, she released a reimagined Croissant Bag for Fendi’s Cruise 2027 collection.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

“These are people who live in their own world, whom you can’t approach,” said Pascal Godrie, mayor of Val d’Issoire, a collection of towns in central France that includes Bussiere-Boffy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

I will always remember an elderly lady in Bootle, Merseyside, who had just collected her pension and insisted on putting £20 in a collection bucket as we walked down the north west coast.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

He arranged the shell collection into smaller piles.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

The latest study combined new observations and looked at fragments of the stone in museum collections, examining structure, minerals and composition.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

So Farm learned to translate its distinct cultural identity into winter collections better suited to the lifestyles of customers who weren’t all beach-going Cariocas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

The chilling tales were warmly received and became an annual Christmas tradition, yielding four published collections.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Niccol said such initiatives give customers more reasons to choose Starbucks, and he promised more beverages, food and merchandise collections to come in the new fiscal year.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

“I am at a loss what to think or say’’ He got over it fairly quickly, though, preoccupied with his adventures and his collections.

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman

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Related Words

• assemblage
• assortment
• compilation
• lot
• number
• selection
• set
• store

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