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:
"I tried to take it to the recycling centre in July but was told it wasn't accepted. Someone said the council would collect it, but they won't either."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
For many diseases, it is impossible or impracticable to collect detailed, local-level prevalence data.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Paltrow won and, rather than collect attorney’s fees from Sanderson, accepted the $1 payout and wished Sanderson well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
While “others see data as something to collect and store,” Apple keeps users’ data private, Ternus said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
He was Jefferson’s trusty servant, permitted to travel alone with important papers or to collect money that was owed to Jefferson.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
It includes two cameras that capture detailed black-and-white images and another camera that collects moderate-resolution multispectral images.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Felix, a food redistribution charity, collects surplus food from shops and other providers so that it is not thrown away or incinerated.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
He’s what is commonly referred to as a “sneakerhead,” someone who collects an array of athletic shoes that range in price from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
It operates using rainwater that collects in two reservoirs, whose levels have dropped due to the onset of El Nino.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
She sees problems and forms solutions based on the data she collects.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Images collected by New Horizons in 2015 and 2016 showed that its northern region contains city-sized geologic convection cells separated by thin dark lines and broader, more diffuse dark patches.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
In May this year, 29 seeds were collected from the lone tree and sent to the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Wakehurst.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Together, they have collected $37 million in the first half of 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
They found the same faint object in observations collected in 2018 and 2020.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
I grab the rocky soil I have collected and store it in my chemical laboratory.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
He took to collecting acorns — the seeds of oak trees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The practice of collecting race and ethnicity data is as old as the census itself.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
When AFP visited, he was climbing through rows of vines winding up the hill, collecting samples to test their ripeness.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Phoebe Watson, an employee at Evolution Games, has been collecting Pokémon cards for the last 20 years.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Sit around collecting dust while the rest of the world earned their living.
From "Worth" by A. LaFaye
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.
