lexicow

collect

/kəˈlekt//kəˈlekt/·verb
An album lies open, its page ruled into empty mounts. Out of a loose, jumbled pile, one stamp at a time is lifted with a pair of tongs, carried up, and pressed into a slot of its own — a red one here, a green one beside it, a blue one in the frame below. None matches its neighbour; each was singled out and set in its place on purpose. I watch the bare grid turn, slot by slot, into a full page of bright, all-different little pictures — ordered and kept, chosen every one, never merely swept in.
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Definition

To collect is to bring things together on purpose and with care — choosing each item and setting it in order, the way one collects stamps, data, or evidence from many different sources. It overlaps with accumulate, but the emphasis falls on selection: where things accumulate almost on their own, you collect deliberately, keeping only what fits the set. From the Latin colligere, 'to gather together', the result is a curated whole — a collection — rather than a random heap.

Examples

  • Detectives collect every fragment of evidence at the scene, then scrutinize each piece for a pattern.
  • After the fair, the volunteers collected the flyers that the wind had let scatter across the field.
  • Over the years she collected first editions one careful purchase at a time.

Collocations

collect data·collect evidence·collect samples·collect stamps·collect taxes

Synonyms

gather·accumulate·amass·assemble·compile

Antonyms

scatter·disperse·distribute

Word family

collection (noun)·collector (noun)·collective (adjective)

In TOEFL & IELTS

A staple of academic and scientific writing: 'researchers collected data/samples', 'evidence was collected'. Keep the nuance against its near-synonyms — collect implies deliberate, selective gathering (and often a set you keep), while accumulate is passive build-up and gather is the broad 'bring together'. The noun 'collection' is high-frequency in TOEFL/IELTS reading on museums, archives and research.