collection
Pluralcollections
- 1A group of things gathered or kept together.
Like a box where you keep all your favorite toys together.
Her stamp collection filled three large albums.
He added the old coin to his growing collection.
UsageSay a collection of things, or a stamp collection, a coin collection.
Similarassortment, set, array, accumulation, selection
- 2The act of collecting things or money, such as trash, taxes or money that people owe.
Like picking up shells along the beach, one by one.
The collection of garbage happens twice a week.
Rainwater collection keeps the garden green during summer.
UsageOften after another noun: trash collection, tax collection.
- 3A group of new clothes or other products that a designer or company makes and shows together, often for one season.
The store got the new spring collection in last week.
She sketches ideas for her collections all year long.
UsageOften with a season: the spring collection, the fall collection.
Less common meanings
- 4Money gathered from people, often for a good cause.
Like passing a hat around so everyone can give a little money.
The church takes up a collection during every service.
They held a collection to help the family after the fire.
UsageSay take up a collection or a collection for someone.
Note
- 5The act of working something out from facts, or the conclusion you reach.
We may safely say thus, that wrong collections have been hitherto made out of those words by modern divines.
1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of DivorceHere, collections means conclusions people worked out from those words.Note
- 6A calm, steady state of mind, even when things are hard.
- 7In math, a group of things, often sets, that may even be too big to count as a set itself.
- 8The group of musical notes a composer chooses to work with.
- 9Exams that Oxford colleges give students, usually at the start of a term.
- 10The area that an excise tax officer is in charge of.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin collēctiō, from colligō meaning "collect together," built from con- plus legō "to gather." It came into English through Old French.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Collection derives from Latin collēctiō. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin collēctiō derives from colligō, meaning collect together. en.wiktionary.org
- Colligō consists of con- plus legō, meaning to gather. en.wiktionary.org
- Collection entered English through Old French. en.wiktionary.org