collide
Americanverb (used without object)
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collides,
present (3rd person singular)
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collided,
past participle, past
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colliding
present participle
verb (used with object)
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collides,
present (3rd person singular)
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collided,
past participle, past
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colliding
present participle
verb
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to crash together with a violent impact
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to conflict in attitude, opinion, or desire; clash; disagree
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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collidesimple
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collidessimple
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have collidedperfect
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has collidedperfect
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am collidingprogressive
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are collidingprogressive
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is collidingprogressive
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have been collidingperfect progressive
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has been collidingperfect progressive
Past
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collidedsimple
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had collidedperfect
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was collidingprogressive
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were collidingprogressive
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had been collidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of collide
1615–25; < Latin collīdere to strike together, equivalent to col- col- 1 + -līdere, combining form of laedere to strike
Explanation
It could be protons bouncing around in a particle accelerator, two cars failing to stop at an intersection, or the priorities of two people with very different goals. When things crash together, they collide. The verb collide has roots in the Latin word collidere, which comes from col- or “together” and laedere, “to strike or damage," like planes that collide in midair. Collide can also describe ideas that clash, such as expectations that collide with reality or radical views that collide with tradition.
Vocabulary lists containing collide
Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer - Introductory
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Force and Motion (Mechanics) - Introductory
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Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer - Middle School
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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:
"Most of those don't collide with anything, most of the time," Matthew Archer, deputy director for launch and space domain awareness at the UK Space Agency told AFP on a visit to the observatory.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
But parts of the rocket are shed in space and remain there, stuck in orbit unless they eventually collide with another celestial body.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The 2015 “Secret Wars” story featured some plotting by Doctor Doom and saw multiverses collide, be destroyed and merge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Scientists believe repeated mergers like these are most likely to happen in crowded environments such as dense stellar clusters, where black holes have many opportunities to interact and eventually collide.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
It flings my legs over my head and my arms to each side, and I collide with the stone, my back pressed against it, water gushing over my face.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
At 1-1, Roberto Carlos' seemingly harmless cross was lofted high into the Hampden Park sky, destined to drop where D and penalty box chalk collides.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
On another level, though, Pitchford is about what happens when that principle collides with the punishing procedural architecture of modern postconviction review.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026
When a large meteor collides with Earth, it produces intense heat that melts surrounding rock.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026
Some waits were still long on Sunday as a busy spring-break season collides with TSA workers waiting for back pay from the shutdown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
Equally, if a real photon collides with an atom, it may move an electron from an orbit nearer the nucleus to one farther away.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Post-mortem examinations are to be carried out later on the bodies of five teenage boys killed when their car being driven the wrong way down a motorway in County Kildare collided head-on with another car.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
One theory for the origin of the Martian moons -- the "giant impact" hypothesis -- is that they formed after a celestial body collided with Mars.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Around the same time, a DHL cargo plane collided with an "unidentified object" as it pulled up into the sky, unable to land in Leipzig.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
The second object collided with a cargo plane that had aborted its landing at Leipzig because of the closure, state officials said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
It was then that Calder’s lunch box collided with the back of a chair and popped open.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
The most high-profile of these was Carlos Sainz colliding with Oscar Piastri as the McLaren driver came up to lap him.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
It is a positioning problem colliding with a macro shock.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Earlier superluminous supernovae had occasionally shown one or two bumps, often explained as shock waves colliding with shells of gas surrounding the dying star.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026
Video showed Quansah’s studs colliding with Gallardo’s calf and the referee issued Quansah a red card that delighted the crowd as England’s lineup was reduced to 10 men.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
I hang back, taking laboriously slow steps as Farooq is right behind Aliya, and the last thing I want to do is give him a thrill by colliding into him.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Definitions 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.
