Collocate: meaning, definitions and examples
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collocate
[ ˈkōləˌkāt ]
word usage
To collocate means to arrange or place words or phrases together in a way that is typically used in a language. This often involves pairing words that commonly appear together, such as 'strong coffee' rather than 'powerful coffee'. Understanding collocations can greatly enhance one's fluency and naturalness in speech and writing. It also plays a crucial role in language learning, as it helps learners to produce language that sounds idiomatic and appropriate.
Synonyms
cluster, combine, place together.
Examples of usage
- Do these words collocate naturally?
- He often collocates adjectives with nouns.
- In academic writing, it's important to collocate terms correctly.
Translations
Translations of the word "collocate" in other languages:
🇵🇹 colocar em colocation
🇮🇳 सामंजस्य स्थापित करना
🇩🇪 zusammenstellen
🇮🇩 mengkolokasi
🇺🇦 колокувати
🇵🇱 kolokować
🇯🇵 コロケーションする
🇫🇷 collocaliser
🇪🇸 colocar en colocación
🇹🇷 bir araya getirmek
🇰🇷 동시 배치하다
🇸🇦 تجميع
🇨🇿 kolokovat
🇸🇰 kolokovať
🇨🇳 搭配
🇸🇮 kolokacija
🇮🇸 setja saman
🇰🇿 құрастыру
🇬🇪 კოლოკაცია
🇦🇿 kolokasiya
🇲🇽 colocar en colocación
Etymology
The term 'collocate' is derived from the Latin word 'collocare', which means to place together. It entered the English language in the mid-20th century, primarily in the context of linguistics and language studies. The prefix 'co-' suggests a partnership or cooperation, while 'locate' pertains to positioning or placing. Hence, 'collocate' fundamentally implies the action of placing words together in a specific order that reflects their conventional usage in the language. This concept has gained increasing importance with the rise of corpus linguistics, which emphasizes the study of word combinations in large databases of spoken and written texts. The phenomenon is significant not only for native speakers but also for ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, who benefit from understanding common combinations to achieve more natural-sounding English.