collection

[kuh-lek-shuhn]

noun

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.

collection

/ 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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of collection¹

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; collect ¹ ) + -iō -ion

Example Sentences

"I visited a Christmas market in Milan a few years ago, and it wasn't the same, it was just a collection of different stores," he adds.

Read more on BBC

Mr. Harpham’s book shows that the history of ideas encompasses much more than what intellectuals thought and wrote about in “a collection of sources and texts”; it is “an entire context within which these cohered.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Winter Egg was subsequently part of several notable British collections but was considered lost since 1975, the auction house noted in a lengthy essay attached to the sale lot online.

Read more on Barron's

In this beautiful collection, these two old friends can live once more for a new generation of readers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

She went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London and launched her first fashion collection, Psychadelic Jungle, in 1981.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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