Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To place or arrange (words, items, or things) together in a specific order or side by side, often to form a meaningful or conventional grouping.
   • In linguistics, to habitually occur together with another word or phrase, forming a common combination.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • (Of words) To have a strong tendency to occur together frequently in a language, forming a natural-sounding phrase.

Examples of Usage

• Verb (transitive):

  • The editor will collocate the illustrations with the corresponding text.
  • In English, we collocate 'heavy' with 'rain' but not 'strong' with 'rain'.

• Verb (intransitive):

  • The adjectives 'utter' and 'complete' collocate with 'nonsense'.
  • 'Make' and 'decision' collocate very frequently.

Advanced Usage

• In Corpus Linguistics: The term is used to describe the statistical tendency of words to co-occur. For example, researchers analyze how words collocate to understand language patterns.

  • Software can identify which verbs collocate most strongly with the noun 'evidence'.

• Collocational Range: Refers to the set of words a particular word typically combines with.

  • The word 'rancid' has a narrow collocational range, primarily collocating with 'butter' and 'oil'.

Variants and Related Words

• Collocation (n): The combination of words formed when two or more words are often used together in a way that sounds natural.

  • 'Fast food' is a common collocation.

• Collocational (adj): Relating to collocation.

  • The exercise tests collocational knowledge.

Synonyms

• Co-occur: To occur together.
• Associate: To connect or bring into relation.
• Combine: To join or merge together.

Related Phrases

• Collocate with: This is the standard grammatical construction used with the verb.
  • Which prepositions collocate with the verb 'depend'?

Verb

1. group or chunk together in a certain order or place side by side
2. have a strong tendency to occur side by side
   • The words 'new' and 'world' collocate