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

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

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

The biography synthesizes an impressive collection of sources, including personal correspondence, photographs, portraits and the incidental writings of figures such as Franz Liszt and Victor Hugo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Her account can be seen as a response to one colonial secretary of Ceylon, who in 1903 believed scientific management would revolutionize the collection of pearls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

The fossils belong to the Ediacaran biota, a collection of mostly soft-bodied organisms that lived on ancient seafloors more than 500 million years ago.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

Braun’s script was on the Black List, a collection of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, which tends to reward hooky, high-concept projects, often to mixed results.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

I have a homework desk with a gooseneck lamp; a collection of cute, pastel-colored pens from Japan; and a tiny potted cactus.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

Then there’s the more nefarious activities – I’ve heard of researchers deliberately moving specimens to make them hard to find so other researchers cannot examine them, and occasionally things are stolen from collections.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The Fukushima earthquake and tsunami of 2011 in Japan caused major damage to the nearby Iwaki museum with damage to some of the fossils in their collections.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

Cardholders recently got collections notices for overdue balances that weren’t theirs, with their credit scores taking a hit as a result.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

It also discusses practices such as limited collections it uses to keep the environmentally friendly label.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

But collections also provided more serious scholars with specimens that helped them formulate theories on the natural order of life.

From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman

Related Words

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