early 15c., from Middle French collectif, from Latin collectivus, from collectus (see collect). As a noun, short for collective farm (in the USSR) it dates from 1925. collective farm first attested 1919 in translations of Lenin. Collective bargaining coined 1891 by Beatrice Webb; defined in U.S. 1935 by the Wagner Act. Collective noun is recorded from 1510s; collective security first attested 1934 in speech by Winston Churchill.
实用例句
1. They have been galvanised into collective action — militarily, politically and economically.
他们在形势驱使下已经在政治、经济和军事上采取了联合行动。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The country's politicians are already heaving a collective sigh of relief.
该国的政界人士均已松了口气。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Social science is a collective name, covering a series of individual sciences.
社会科学是一个统称，涵盖一系列的独立学科。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She dismisses the reform process as an exercise in collective navel gazing.
她对这场改革嗤之以鼻，认为只是无实际行动的集体空想而已。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Bruce Springsteen has re-hired his muso collective, the E Street Band.
