collaboration
Americannoun
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collaborations
plural
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the act or process of working together or cooperating.
Chat tools provide opportunity for real-time collaboration and dialogue.
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a product resulting from working together or cooperating.
This dictionary is a collaboration of many minds.
noun
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the act of working with another or others on a joint project
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something created by working jointly with another or others
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the act of cooperating as a traitor, esp with an enemy occupying one's own country
Usage
What does collaboration mean? Collaboration is the act of working together, especially on a goal or shared project. It can also be used to refer to a product of collaboration, as in The new single is a collaboration from the two pop stars. Collaboration is the noun form of the verb collaborate, meaning to work together. Collaboration is often used in a positive context to refer to two or more parties successfully working together on professional or artistic projects. It often implies not just cooperation but sharing and developing of each other’s ideas. Such a joint effort can be described with the adjective collaborative. People who collaborate are called collaborators. Collaboration can also be used in a much more specific way referring to cooperation as a traitor with enemy forces in one’s own country. This is much less commonly used than its general sense. Example: This project would not have happened without close collaboration between all the departments.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of collaboration
First recorded in 1855–60; from French, from Late Latin collabōrāt ( us ) ( see collaborate) + French -ion -ion
Explanation
When you join a group of friends to build a huge sandcastle on the beach, your impressive structure is the result of collaboration, or working together toward a common goal. Working with another person — or a group of people — to make something together is collaboration. You can also describe the result of your work, like the elaborately decorated cake you made with your best friend, as a collaboration. During World War II, the word collaboration began being used to mean "working traitorously with an enemy," and became a very serious crime.
Vocabulary lists containing collaboration
Outliers
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World War II
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This Week in Pop Culture: November 3 - 9, 2018
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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:
It comes after Epic delayed the release of a collaboration with Disney featuring characters from Star Wars and Marvel, according to a report from Bloomberg, external.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
American has dabbled in some specialty kits, including a collaboration with U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
"Digestion is not just a human process -- it is a collaboration between our bodies and trillions of microbes living in the gut," said Professor Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
After flying more than 3 million miles, his collection includes rare finds like United Airlines’ ‘Star Wars’ collaboration and newer offerings like China Airlines’ partnership with fashion brand Marc Jacobs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
By 1933, their collaboration had poised the University of California to take its place as one of the great academic centers of the world, one of the richest institutions and most ambitious.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The upcoming sixth installment in Sarah J. Maas’s romantasy series “A Court of Thorns and Roses” is drawing collaborations with brands including Target, Fine’ry, Knix and Loungefly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
"Queen's University has commenced a review around any existing or proposed collaborations involving CGTRI," they said.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
The laboratory research was led by Sweta B. Patel, PhD, and involved collaborations with University of Colorado Anschutz researchers, including Angelo D'Alessadro, PhD and Julie Reisz Haines, PhD, along with additional collaborators from several institutions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
“In pop culture, we have introduced an entirely new fandom experience and destination that leans into things like trading cards and collectibles, but also exclusive collaborations, into one cohesive experience,” Sylvester said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Gardens are fashioned for many purposes with many different tools, but all are collaborations with natural forces.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
