collect
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
collects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
collected,
past participle, past
-
collecting
present participle
-
to gather together; assemble.
The professor collected the students' exams.
-
to accumulate; make a collection of.
to collect stamps.
- Antonyms:
- scatter, distribute
-
to receive or compel payment of.
to collect a bill.
-
to regain control of (oneself or one's thoughts, faculties, composure, or the like).
At the news of her promotion, she took a few minutes to collect herself.
-
to call for and take with one: They collected their mail.
He drove off to collect his guests.
They collected their mail.
-
Manège. to bring (a horse) into a collected attitude.
-
Archaic. to infer.
verb (used without object)
-
collects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
collected,
past participle, past
-
collecting
present participle
-
to gather together; assemble.
The students collected in the assembly hall.
-
to accumulate.
Rainwater collected in the barrel.
-
to receive payment (often followed byon ).
He collected on the damage to his house.
-
to gather or bring together books, stamps, coins, etc., usually as a hobby.
He's been collecting for years.
-
Manège. (of a horse) to come into a collected attitude.
adjective
noun
verb
-
to gather together or be gathered together
-
to accumulate (stamps, books, etc) as a hobby or for study
-
(tr) to call for or receive payment of (taxes, dues, etc)
-
(tr) to regain control of (oneself, one's emotions, etc) as after a shock or surprise
he collected his wits
-
(tr) to fetch; pick up
collect your own post
he collected the children after school
-
slang to receive large sums of money, as from an investment
he really collected when the will was read
-
informal (tr) to collide with; be hit by
-
the US term for cash on delivery
adverb
noun
noun
Synonym Usage
See gather.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
collectsimple
-
collectssimple
-
have collectedperfect
-
has collectedperfect
-
am collectingprogressive
-
are collectingprogressive
-
is collectingprogressive
-
have been collectingperfect progressive
-
has been collectingperfect progressive
Past
-
collectedsimple
-
had collectedperfect
-
was collectingprogressive
-
were collectingprogressive
-
had been collectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of collect1
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin collēctus (past participle of colligere “to collect”), equivalent to col- “with, together” + leg- (stem of legere “to gather”) + -tus past participle suffix; see col- 1
Origin of collect2
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English collecte, from Old French collecte, colete, and Medieval Latin collecta, short for ōrātiō ad collēctam “prayer at collection”; see origin at collect 1
Explanation
The verb collect describes gathering or bringing something together. Charity organizations often collect warm coats for people in need. Other people who want to help those in need seek monetary donations. If you volunteer for a charity, you may collect on behalf of the charity — meaning you get donations. Collect can also refer to getting payment for money that is owed. If you owe money to someone, eventually he'll find you and say, "I'm here to collect."
Vocabulary lists containing collect
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
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"A Natural Balance" and "In My Dreams"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The city is to collect a share of the advertising revenue from the billboards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Perks said this was a crucial opportunity to collect the pellets.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Bell taught his students to collect facts, however small, and to reason from them—not to “twist facts to suit theories,” a “fatal mistake which the ordinary policeman makes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The researchers also had to account for differences among the telescopes used to collect the observations.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
Inside were the treasures Nhamo had managed to collect.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Another fund family that collects an impressive amount by that measure is active manager ARK Invest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Rashdan Technologies collects and processes such human generated data.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was ordered by a New Mexico judge on Wednesday to pay $25 billion for misleading users about how it collects and safeguards user data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Known as autophagy, this process collects defective proteins and other cellular waste, packages them into specialized compartments, and breaks them down into basic molecular components that can be reused.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
He collects his laptops and his thermos and goes inside, with CPU trotting after him.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
The 2014 Dewey & LeBoeuf bankruptcy spawned years of litigation against its former partners to claw back profit they had collected before its collapse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Experts have also suggested that the lack of consistency in what is collected by local authorities across the country makes it confusing for households.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
Scientists have collected substantial evidence about Earth's ancient climates, but translating that information into reliable forecasts remains difficult.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
The two are jointly responsible for the judgment, meaning the same losses cannot be collected twice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
And while I have collected several soil samples, I have not yet collected a rock sample.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
In theory, therefore, you could end up collecting $4,000 a month, with your wife collecting $2,000.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
But are workers collecting data for machines that will one day do their jobs?
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
In St. Louis, an interior designer shared her love of Pilates, escape rooms and collecting angel figurines and animal bones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Americans in general did not want the government collecting unified, know-all records of every citizen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
And after collecting the soil sample, I conducted a thorough analysis of it in my chemical laboratory.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
