collaborate
Formscollaborates, collaborating, collaborated
- 1To work jointly with others in pursuit of a common goal.
Engineers and designers must collaborate to bring a new product to market.
The two firms collaborated on the bridge design last year.
Similarcooperate, partner, coordinate, combine
Oppositecompete
Note
A verb made backward from its noun: collaborate is a back-formation from collaborator, shaped by French collaborateur and collaborer or by Late Latin collabōrāre. It displaced the native Old English efnwyrċan. The shared task follows on (collaborate on a project), and the verb also stands comfortably alone with no object, as in a site where anyone can collaborate.
- 2To willingly cooperate with an enemy occupying force in one's own country, an act regarded as treason.
Merchants who collaborate with an occupying regime often profit while their neighbors suffer.
He was tried after the war for having collaborated with the enemy.
Similarcollude, fraternize, cooperate, conspire
Oppositeresist
Note
The same verb turned into an accusation. What makes it treason is the partner, who usually follows with: the occupying forces, the enemy. Only that context separates it from the neutral sense of joint work, so wartime writing needs care. In this use the verb never praises. The person who does it stands accused of betraying their own country.
Practice
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Origin
A back-formation from 'collaborator', which comes from French 'collaborateur'; it may also have been modeled on French 'collaborer' or taken directly from Late Latin 'collabōrātus', the past participle of 'collabōrāre'. It displaced the native Old English 'efnwyrċan'.