Word of the Day

: May 12, 2018

collaborate

verb kuh-LAB-uh-rayt

What It Means

1 : to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor

2 : to cooperate with or willingly assist an enemy of one's country and especially an occupying force

3 : to cooperate with an agency or instrumentality with which one is not immediately connected

collaborate in Context

"Everyone needs to know how to collaborate well, and you can practice that skill in many ways: by setting up working groups, lending a hand to your coworkers, and checking in to make sure your goals line up with your teammates." — Judith Humphrey, Fast Company, 21 Mar. 2018

"The friends—Todd Anderson, a printmaking professor at Clemson University, and Bruce Crownover, a master printer at Tandem Press at the University of Wisconsin-Madison—collaborated on the oversized art book 'The Last Glacier,' which was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City earlier this year." — Carol Schmidt, The Billings (Montana) Gazette, 9 Apr. 2018

Did You Know?

The Latin prefix com-, meaning "with, together, or jointly," is a bit of a chameleon—it has a tricky habit of changing its appearance depending on what it's next to. If the word it precedes begins with "l," com- becomes col-. In the case of collaborate, com- teamed up with laborare ("to labor") to form Late Latin collaborare ("to labor together"). Colleague, collect, and collide are a few more examples of the com- to col- transformation. Other descendants of laborare in English include elaborate, laboratory, and labor itself.