Collective

//kəˈlɛktɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A farm owned by a collection of people.
  2. 2
    members of a cooperative enterprise wordnet
  3. 3
    One of more farms managed and owned, through the state, by the community. especially
  4. 4
    A collective noun or name.
  5. 5
    A group dedicated to a particular cause or interest. broadly

    "There are, however, a number of contemporary artists and art collectives that have defined their practice precisely around the facilitation of dialogue among diverse communities."

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  1. 6
    The flight control used to control a helicopter's ascent or descent.

    "A pilot normally holds the collective stationary until the helicopter stops; however, to get more braking action, lower the collective slightly. Keep in mind that, due to the increased ground friction when the collective is lowered or[…]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Formed by gathering or collecting; gathered into a mass, sum, or body. not-comparable

    "the collective body of a nation"

  2. 2
    Tending to collect; forming a collection. not-comparable

    "Local is his throne […] to fix a point, / A central point, collective of his sons."

  3. 3
    Having plurality of origin or authority. not-comparable
  4. 4
    Expressing a collection or aggregate of individuals, by a singular form. not-comparable
  5. 5
    Deducing consequences; reasoning; inferring. not-comparable, obsolete

    "critical and collective reason"

Adjective
  1. 1
    set up on the principle of collectivism or ownership and production by the workers involved usually under the supervision of a government wordnet
  2. 2
    forming a whole or aggregate wordnet
  3. 3
    done by or characteristic of individuals acting together wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
jointabstractaccompanyingaccordantagglomerativeaggregated

Example

More examples

"Collective responsibility means irresponsibility."

Etymology

From Middle French collectif, from Latin collēctīvus, from collēctus, past participle of colligō (“I collect”), from com- (“together”) + legō (“I gather”). Compare French collectif. Doublet of colectivo.

Related phrases

collective Westcollective actioncollective agreementcollective bargainingcollective buyingcollective call signcollective fruitcollective investment schemecollective memorycollective modecollective notecollective noun

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.