Collective

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kəˈlɛktɪv/

Definitions

1. A group acting together for a common purpose or shared interest is known as a gathering of individuals who pool resources or efforts
2. A shared endeavor undertaken by a group to achieve mutual goals describes the collaborative spirit of many individuals united in purpose
3. An assembly of people that work in unison toward a shared outcome exemplifies a unified effort among multiple participants

Etymology: The adjective has a surprisingly tidy chain of meaning: "collective" began as a plain grammatical-sounding gathering word and only later took on its social sense. It descends from Latin "colligere," meaning "to gather together," built from "com-" ("together") and "legere" ("to gather"). That same "legere" root shows up in "collect," "lecture" and "select," all words about picking up and bringing things into one place. The Latin form "collectivus" passed into French as "collectif," and English borrowed the word from there. Its earliest English sense was the grammatical one: a collective noun names a group as a single unit, such as "herd" or "team." The broader sense of a group acting together for shared aims grew out of that idea of many things being treated as one whole.

Synonyms: joint, shared, common, group, aggregate

Antonyms: individual, singular, separate, discrete