the act or process of collecting a number of things collected or assembled together something gathered into a mass or pile; accumulation: a collection of rubbish a sum of money collected or solicited, as in church removal, esp regular removal of letters from a postbox - (often plural)
(at Oxford University) a college examination or an oral report by a tutor
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
col•lec•tion /kəˈlɛkʃən/USA pronunciation n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- a group of objects, etc., gathered together:[countable]a collection of old records.
- the act of collecting: [uncountable]Garbage collection is on Fridays.[countable]Collections are suspended on holidays.
- [countable]
- an activity intended to raise money, such as for some charitable cause:We organized a collection for the homeless.
- the money obtained in such an activity:We took in a collection of $1,000 for new books.
col•lec•tion
(kə lek′shən),USA pronunciation n.
col•lec′tion•al, adj.
- the act of collecting.
- something that is collected;
a group of objects or an amount of material accumulated in one location, esp. for some purpose or as a result of some process:a stamp collection;a collection of unclaimed hats in the checkroom;a collection of books on Churchill. - Fine Artthe works of art constituting the holdings of an art museum:a history of the museum and of the collection.
- Fine Artthe gathered or exhibited works of a single painter, sculptor, etc.:an excellent Picasso collection.
- Fine Art collections, the various holdings of an art museum organized by category, as painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, or film:the director of the collections.
- Fine Art, Clothingthe clothes or other items produced by a designer, esp. for a seasonal line:the spring collection.
- Businessa sum of money collected, esp. for charity or church use.
- Sport[Manège.]act of bringing or coming into a collected attitude.
- Latin collēctiōn- (stem of collēctiō), equivalent. to collēct(us) (past participle of colligere; see collect1) + -iōn- -ion
- Anglo-French)
- Middle English colleccioun (1350–1400
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged accumulation, aggregation, mass, heap, pile, hoard, store.
- 7.See corresponding entry in Unabridged contribution(s), alms.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'refuse collection' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):