collection

English · Français · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

collection

  • /kəˈlɛkʃən/

Rhymes with -ɛkʃən

Where it comes from

From Middle English colleccioun, collection, from Old French collection, from Latin collēctiō, collēctiōnem, from collēctus, from colligō (“collect together”), composed of con- + legō (“bring together, gather, collect”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather, collect”). Equivalent to collect + -ion.

noun collections

  1. countable, uncountable A set of items or amount of material procured, gathered or presented together. The attic contains a remarkable collection of antiques, oddities, and random junk.
  2. countable, uncountable A set of pitch classes used by a composer. The "collectional information" one receives is ambiguous since the collection { C, E, F, G, A } occurs in the key of C and in the key of F.
  3. countable, uncountable The activity of collecting. Collection of trash will occur every Thursday.
  4. countable, uncountable A set of sets; used because such a thing is in general too large to comply with the formal definition of a set.
  5. countable, uncountable A gathering of money for charitable or other purposes, as by passing a contribution box for donations. The people here are very good to each other, too. When someone's house burned down, when someone was in the hospital, they took up collections for the people.
  6. countable, uncountable Debt collection.
  7. countable, obsolete, uncountable The act of inferring or concluding from premises or observed facts; also, that which is inferred. We may safely say thus, that wrong collections have been hitherto made out of those words by modern divines.
  8. UK, countable, uncountable The jurisdiction of a collector of excise.
  9. countable, plural normally, uncountable A set of college exams generally taken at the start of the term.
  10. countable, uncountable The quality of being collected; calm composure.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: assemblage, collecting, assembling, aggregation, accumulation, compendium, solicitation, appeal, ingathering, collected, collectability, collect, collector, assemble, gather, ensemble

Translations

Every language

noun multiple related objects

Españolcolección, conjunto
Portuguêscoleção
Françaiscollection
DeutschSammlung, Kollektion, Menge
Italianoraccolta, collezione
Русскийколле́кция kollékcija, набо́р nabór
Tiếng Việttập hợp, tập sưu tầm

noun set of items

Españolcolección
한국어수집 sujip, 컬렉션 keolleksyeon
日本語コレクション korekushon
中文集 jí, 收藏 shōucáng
हिन्दीसंग्रह saṅgrah, संभार sambhār
Portuguêscoleção
Françaiscollection
DeutschSammlung, Kollektion
Italianoraccolta, collezione
Ελληνικάσυλλογή syllogí
Românăcolectare, colecție
Русскийколле́кция kollékcija, собра́ние sobránije, сбо́рник sbórnik
Tiếng Việtbộ sưu tập, kho tàng
العربيةمَجْمُوعَة majmūʕa, جَمْع jamʕ
עבריתאוסף, אֹסֶף ósef

noun activity of collecting

Españolrecogida, recolección, recogimiento
हिन्दीसंचयन sañcyan
Portuguêscoleta, recolha, recolhimento
Françaisramassage, collecte
DeutschSammeln, Sammlung, Abholung, Einsammlung
Italianoraccolta
Românăcolectare
Русскийколлекциони́рование kollekcionírovanije, собира́ние sobiránije
Tiếng Việtsự tập hợp, sự sưu tầm
العربيةجَمْع jamʕ
עבריתאיסוף ysuf

noun gathering of money for charitable or other purposes

Españolcolecta, recaudación
日本語募金 bokin, カンパ kanpa
Françaisquête
DeutschSammelung
Italianocolletta
Русскийсбор sbor

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"collection." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/collection. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

collection. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/collection

Chicago

"collection." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/collection.

BibTeX
@misc{collection_2026,
  title = {collection},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/collection},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}