collective
collective — adjective
1. done together or experienced as a whole by all the people in a group, rather tha
done together or experienced as a whole by all the people in a group, rather than belonging to any single person alone — for instance, when a team takes collective responsibility for a mistake, each member accepts a share of the blame.
The team made a collective decision to extend the project deadline by two weeks.
collocation: collective decision
After the flood, the collective effort of the neighbourhood helped rebuild three homes.
collocation: collective effort
The bakery workers reached a collective agreement about their new holiday schedule.
Our collective memory of the beach trip still makes the Chen family laugh every year.
During English class, Ms. Yara wrote 'flock of birds' on the board as an example of a collective noun.
- shared
more general; can apply to any resource or feeling, not just group action
- joint
often implies two or a few parties together, less common for large groups
- common
broader; can mean 'widespread' or 'ordinary' as well as 'shared'
- communal
suggests a community sharing resources or space, often with a warmer tone
- individual
refers to one person alone rather than the whole group
- personal
relates to a single person's private matters, not group affairs
- private
owned or controlled by one person, not the group
文法句型
collective + noun
用法筆記
Often placed before a noun. Common in workplace, political, and community contexts. Unlike 'individual', which highlights one person, 'collective' always refers to the whole group acting or being considered together.
常見錯誤
collective — noun
1. a company or organization whose workers share ownership and make decisions toget
a company or organization whose workers share ownership and make decisions together, rather than being run by outside investors or a single owner — for instance, an artist collective where members split studio costs and share exhibition profits.
Rosa joined an artist collective that shares studio space and sells work together.
noun pattern: artist collective
The farming collective decided to grow organic vegetables and sell them at the local market.
noun pattern: farming collective
Members of the printing collective vote on every major business decision together.
After five years at the collective, Mei felt proud of the library they had built.
- cooperative
more common in everyday use, especially in Taiwan; technically a type of collective
- co-op
informal shortening of cooperative
- corporation
a company owned by shareholders, not by the workers
- private firm
owned by an individual or small group, not by all employees
文法句型
[noun] + collective
collective of + [noun]
用法筆記
Countable noun. Often appears with a preceding noun that describes the type of work (artist collective, farming collective, worker collective). In everyday Taiwanese Mandarin, 'collective' in this business sense is less common than the term 'cooperative' (合作社), though English-language media uses 'collective' freely.