collective

Shared by or involving all the people in a group.

• It was a collective decision.
• Cleaning the beach required a collective effort.
• The tragedy remains part of our collective memory.

Similar words: shared, joint, common

Opposites: individual

Common phrases: collective decision, collective effort, collective responsibility

Involving a workers' union acting or making agreements for its members.

• The union wants a collective agreement.
• Collective bargaining helped workers secure better pay.
• Their collective action persuaded the employer to negotiate.

Common phrases: collective bargaining, collective agreement, collective action

Found by putting all the separate amounts or results together.

• Their collective savings paid for the trip.
• The report measures the collective output of all factories.
• Our collective results exceeded last year's total.

Similar words: combined, total, aggregate

Common phrases: collective amount, collective wealth, collective results

Made by gathering separate people or things into one group or body.

• The members form a collective body.
• Separate communities became one collective whole.
• The scattered particles gathered into a collective mass.

Similar words: assembled, gathered, combined

Opposites: scattered

Common phrases: collective body, collective mass, collective whole

A group of people who work together toward the same goal.

• She joined an artists' collective.
• The collective organizes free concerts.
• Several creative collectives share this building.

How to use it: collective of people (They formed a collective of local musicians.)

Similar words: group, association

Common phrases: artists' collective, music collective, join a collective

A business owned and run together by a group of people.

• The farm operates as a collective.
• Workers in the collective share its profits.
• They established a collective to sell their handmade furniture.

Similar words: cooperative, co-op

Common phrases: workers' collective, farming collective, run a collective

A word that names a group of people, animals, or things.

• A flock is a collective for sheep.
• The teacher asked us to list five collectives.
• This collective names a group of birds.

How to use it: collective for something (What is the collective for a group of geese?)

Similar words: collective noun

Common phrases: a collective for, use a collective