First Known Use: circa 1533
Dictionary
colleague
noun col·league \ˈkä-(ˌ)lēg\
: a person who works with you : a fellow worker
Full Definition of COLLEAGUE
: an associate in a profession or in a civil or ecclesiastical office
— col·league·ship \-ˌship\ noun
See colleague defined for English-language learners
See colleague defined for kids
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Examples of COLLEAGUE
- Not since Cronkite's CBS mentor and colleague Edward R. Murrow lifted Senator Joe McCarthy by the skunk tail for public inspection had one TV broadcast reflected such a fateful climate change in public opinion. —James Wolcott, Vanity Fair, June 2003
- My colleague Gene Sperling and I were standing over my speakerphone, but for all Mario Cuomo knew we were on our knees. —George Stephanopoulos, Newsweek, 15 Mar. 1999
- Nineteenth-century naturalist Thomas Henry Huxley, a colleague of Charles Darwin, was the first to suggest that dinosaurs and birds were related. —Laura Tangley, U.S. News & World Report, 6 July 1998
- … it gets noticed no more than an hour later by another colleague of mine, whom I've never met personally but know to be an art historian … —John Barth, Atlantic, March 1995
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Origin of COLLEAGUE
Middle French collegue, from Latin collega, from com- + legare to depute — more at legate
Rhymes with COLLEAGUE
COLLEAGUE Defined for Kids
colleague
noun col·league \ˈkä-ˌlēg\
Definition of COLLEAGUE for Kids
: an associate in a profession : a fellow worker
Learn More About COLLEAGUE
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