collective
done by people as a group
Done by a group of people together, or shared by all of them.
collective [noun]
- Climate change demands a collective response from the international community.
- The project was a collective effort involving staff from every department.
- We have a collective responsibility to protect vulnerable people in our society.
- The ceremony became a moment of collective grief and reflection.
- Through collective bargaining, the union secured better working conditions.
- Cleaning the park was a collective effort by the neighbors.
- We made a collective decision to move the meeting to Friday.
- As parents, we share a collective duty to keep children safe.
- The team felt a collective sense of pride after the win.
- This problem needs a collective answer, not just one person’s idea.
group running or sharing something jointly
A group of people who share work, money, or space and make decisions together in an equal way.
a collective of [people]
- She joined an artists' collective that shares a large studio space.
- The café is run as a workers' collective, so everyone has a say in major decisions.
- They live in a housing collective where all residents help manage the building.
- The food collective buys produce in bulk and sells it at low prices to members.
- Our university has a student collective that organizes events and campaigns.
- He works in a small coffee collective with five other people.
- The artists' collective shows their work in one big gallery.
- In a collective, members vote on important choices.
- The group started a farming collective to share money and tools.
- She wants to start a writers' collective in her city.
people considered as a whole group
People in a group seen as one whole, especially when they feel or do something together.
the collective
- The decision shocked the collective, leaving many people angry and confused.
- Social media can give the collective a powerful voice.
- In times of crisis, the collective often shows great resilience.
- The film explores the tension between the individual and the collective.
- Artists have a role in shaping the collective imagination.
- The news made the collective feel very afraid.
- As a collective, we can solve this problem.
- Sometimes the collective is stronger than one person.
- The law protects both the individual and the collective.
- The song became part of the collective of our childhood memories.
describing a noun that names a group
Describes a noun that names a group, like "team" or "family", and treats it as one thing.
collective [noun]
- In English, "team" is a collective noun that can take either singular or plural verbs.
- Words like "family" and "staff" are common collective nouns.
- Teachers often explain subject–verb agreement using lists of collective nouns.
- The term "audience" functions as a collective noun in this sentence.
- Learners sometimes treat collective nouns as always singular, which is not always correct in British English.
- The word "family" is a collective noun.
- We learned that "group" is a collective noun in class.
- Collective nouns talk about many people as one thing.
- The teacher wrote three collective nouns on the board.
- Is "team" a collective noun or a normal noun?
state-controlled jointly run farm
A farm that is owned and worked by a group of people together, usually in a communist country; the short form of "collective farm".
a collective
- His grandparents spent their childhood on a Soviet collective.
- Under the new policy, private land was turned into large collectives.
- Life on the collective was tightly controlled by party officials.
- Many collectives struggled with low productivity and poor management.
- The novel is set on a rural collective in the 1950s.
- The farmer lost his land and had to work on a collective.
- People on the collective shared tools and animals.
- In that country, many farms became collectives after the revolution.
- The story tells about a boy growing up on a collective.
- Workers on the collective did not own the land themselves.
- Base: collective
- Base: collective
- Plural: collectives
collective action
1group action for a common goal
Things that people do together as a group to reach the same goal, often political or social.
- The protest was an example of collective action against corruption.
- Climate change can only be addressed through global collective action.
- The book examines why people sometimes choose not to join collective action.
collective bargaining
1workers negotiating with employer as group
Talks between a company and a group of workers (usually through a union) to decide pay and working conditions.
- The union called a strike after collective bargaining broke down.
- Collective bargaining helped the workers win higher wages and better benefits.
- Laws in many countries protect the right to collective bargaining.
collective effort
1effort made by a group together
Work or energy from many people together, not just one person.
- The project was a collective effort by staff across all departments.
- Cleaning the beach took a real collective effort.
- Ending the pandemic will require a global collective effort.
collective memory
1group’s shared memory of the past
The way a group of people remembers and talks about important events in its past.
- The war still shapes the country’s collective memory.
- Films and books play a big role in forming collective memory.
- That disaster is part of the collective memory of the city.
collective responsibility
1responsibility shared by a group
The idea that every person in a group is responsible for what the group does.
- The cabinet operates under collective responsibility, so all ministers must support the decision.
- We have a collective responsibility to protect the environment for future generations.
- In this team, success and failure are matters of collective responsibility.
collective security
1shared defense between countries
A system where countries promise to help defend each other if one of them is attacked.
- The alliance is based on the principle of collective security.
- Collective security depends on all member states keeping their promises.
- The organization was created to provide collective security after the war.
collective unconscious
1shared unconscious mind across humanity
In psychology, the idea that all humans share deep mental patterns and symbols that they are not aware of.
- Jung argued that myths come from the collective unconscious.
- The film seems to tap into the collective unconscious of its audience.
- Some psychologists reject the idea of a collective unconscious as unscientific.
collective wisdom
1knowledge gathered from many people
The ideas and good judgment you get when you listen to many people, not just one person.
- We relied on the collective wisdom of the team to solve the problem.
- Online reviews can reflect the collective wisdom of thousands of customers.
- The collective wisdom of the group was greater than any single expert’s advice.
collective noun
1grammar term for group word
A noun that talks about a group of people or things as one thing, like "team", "family", or "audience".
- Students often confuse plural nouns with collective nouns.
- "Team" is a collective noun that refers to a group of players.
- The teacher asked the class to list five collective nouns.
- In British English, a collective noun can take a plural verb when the group is seen as individuals.
- In British English, many collective nouns can take plural verbs.
- Words like "family", "staff", and "crowd" are common collective nouns.
collective punishment
1punishment of a whole group
Punishment that is given to many people together, even if only some of them did something wrong.
- Human‑rights groups condemned the policy as collective punishment.
- Collective punishment of civilians is banned under international law.
- They argued that closing the whole school was unfair collective punishment.
collective punishment
2punishing a whole group for some
Punishing a whole group of people for what only some people in the group did.
- International law generally forbids collective punishment of civilian populations.
- Shutting down the whole school for one class’s mistake felt like collective punishment.
- Human rights groups condemned the policy as a form of collective punishment.