col·lec·tive kə-ˈlek-tiv 
1
: denoting a number of persons or things considered as one group or whole
flock is a collective word
2
a
: formed by collecting : aggregated
b
of a fruit : multiple
3
a
: of, relating to, or being a group of individuals
b
: involving all members of a group as distinct from its individuals
a collective action
4
: marked by similarity among or with the members of a group
the collective interests of the town
5
: collectivized or characterized by collectivism
collective farming
collective communities
6
: shared or assumed by all members of the group
collective responsibility
the collective opinion of the staff
collective guilt
collectively adverb
1
: a collective body : group
a social collective
2
: a cooperative unit or organization
specifically : collective farm
3
: a helicopter control system governing lift
Synonyms
Examples of collective in a Sentence
Adjective We made a collective decision to go on strike. The incident became part of our collective memory. the collective wisdom of generations
Recent Examples on the Web
Michelle Miller, CBS News, 6 Apr. 2024 Ultimately, Samuel believes the wide receivers’ collective future is bright because of the veteran leadership of the starting trio. —Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 2024 Its new playful — albeit still sophisticated — aesthetic offers whimsical murals hand-painted by local artist collective En Viu across the rooms and public spaces. —Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 5 Apr. 2024 Few celestial events have the power to capture our collective attention the way this upcoming total solar eclipse has managed to do. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024 Yet these are acts of retaliation for a collective sense of an abominable injustice committed with impunity. —Pierre Esperance, Foreign Affairs, 2 Apr. 2024 The collective obsession with iced coffee is still growing, even in the dead of winter. —Peter C. Baker, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024 Rather, members of the community participated in the collective consumption as an act of irreverence—a dispositional characteristic of the community's culture—and rebellion against traditional financial institutions like Wall Street. —Dr. Marcus Collins, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024 Over the past nearly 46 years, the buddies have amassed a collective five Tony Awards and 23 nominations — Nicholaw for directing and choreography, Barnes for costume design. —Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Mar. 2024
Emily Newhouse, Allure, 5 Apr. 2024 Switching schools for most players means providing a bank routing number to a different NIL collective. —Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2024 Sinclair and others founded the Detroit Artists Workshop, a loosely knit collective that eventually included several houses and two buildings around West Warren Avenue and the Lodge Freeway that served as venues for avant-garde culture and publications. —Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press, 2 Apr. 2024 With an outrageously talented ensemble that includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Elliott Gould, Contagion is the rare American movie that focuses on a collective that’s bigger than a few individuals. —Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2024 Rural Grit, a freewheeling folk collective that has held its residency there since the mid-2000s, is in many ways the torchbearer of that scene’s bohemian spirit. —David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2024 Oakland is just starting a collective that Kampe said had raised about $28,000 for his entire roster. —Billy Witz, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024 The score by the musical collective PigPen Theatre Co. captures the tuneful Americana mood of the era, and mixes it up with songs ranging from swing to folk. —Frank Rizzo, Variety, 22 Mar. 2024 The central compromise of the MMA was the creation of a new mechanical licensing collective to administer Section 115 streaming blanket licenses, governed by rightsholders, and funded by DSPs. —Kristin Robinson, Billboard, 18 Mar. 2024
Adjective
That collective memory is also being preserved at the Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museum in Maryland and at Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park in Richmond, California, which sits on the shoreline where battleships were once made. —Michelle Miller, CBS News, 6 Apr. 2024 Ultimately, Samuel believes the wide receivers’ collective future is bright because of the veteran leadership of the starting trio. —Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 2024 Its new playful — albeit still sophisticated — aesthetic offers whimsical murals hand-painted by local artist collective En Viu across the rooms and public spaces. —Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 5 Apr. 2024 Few celestial events have the power to capture our collective attention the way this upcoming total solar eclipse has managed to do. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024 Yet these are acts of retaliation for a collective sense of an abominable injustice committed with impunity. —Pierre Esperance, Foreign Affairs, 2 Apr. 2024 The collective obsession with iced coffee is still growing, even in the dead of winter. —Peter C. Baker, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024 Rather, members of the community participated in the collective consumption as an act of irreverence—a dispositional characteristic of the community's culture—and rebellion against traditional financial institutions like Wall Street. —Dr. Marcus Collins, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024 Over the past nearly 46 years, the buddies have amassed a collective five Tony Awards and 23 nominations — Nicholaw for directing and choreography, Barnes for costume design. —Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Mar. 2024
Noun
Aries is so important that astrologers can read a chart for when the sun goes into Aries (this year that was March 19 at 11:07 p.m.) and it can be used to predict what the whole year will be about for the collective from that location. —Emily Newhouse, Allure, 5 Apr. 2024 Switching schools for most players means providing a bank routing number to a different NIL collective. —Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2024 Sinclair and others founded the Detroit Artists Workshop, a loosely knit collective that eventually included several houses and two buildings around West Warren Avenue and the Lodge Freeway that served as venues for avant-garde culture and publications. —Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press, 2 Apr. 2024 With an outrageously talented ensemble that includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Elliott Gould, Contagion is the rare American movie that focuses on a collective that’s bigger than a few individuals. —Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2024 Rural Grit, a freewheeling folk collective that has held its residency there since the mid-2000s, is in many ways the torchbearer of that scene’s bohemian spirit. —David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2024 Oakland is just starting a collective that Kampe said had raised about $28,000 for his entire roster. —Billy Witz, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024 The score by the musical collective PigPen Theatre Co. captures the tuneful Americana mood of the era, and mixes it up with songs ranging from swing to folk. —Frank Rizzo, Variety, 22 Mar. 2024 The central compromise of the MMA was the creation of a new mechanical licensing collective to administer Section 115 streaming blanket licenses, governed by rightsholders, and funded by DSPs. —Kristin Robinson, Billboard, 18 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'collective.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near collective
Cite this Entry
“Collective.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collective. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
collective
1 of 2 adjective col·lec·tive kə-ˈlek-tiv
1
: having to do with a number of persons or things considered as one group
"flock" is a collective noun
2
: formed by collecting
3
: of, relating to, or involving all members of a group
the collective feelings of the team
collective legal action
4
: shared or done by a number of persons as a group
a collective effort
collectively adverb
collective
2 of 2 noun
1
: a collective body : group
2
: a cooperative unit or organization
Legal Definition
collective
adjective col·lec·tive kə-ˈlek-tiv
: involving all members of a group as distinct from individual members
collectively adverb
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