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🤝 To work together ⚠️ To help an enemy
to collaborate

to collaborate

16 8.2
To help an enemy against your country, often by giving information or support
  • verb
  • /kəˈlæbəˌreɪt/
translation icon : colaborar con el enemigo
  • They had recruited, among others, an Air Force officer by the name of Edward Lansdale, who had collaborated with the CIA in conducting assassinations in many parts of the world.
  • accused of collaborating
  • collaborate with the Zionist

Armed rebellion and rioting, collaborating with the enemy and betrayal.

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Examples

  • Mojave chief Yarateva also collaborated with Crook's campaign against hostile Yavapais.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Suspected of collaborating with the Vietcong...

    A Complete Unknown (2024)

  • We're here to ask you to collaborate with the United States government.

    Wasp Network (2020)

  • This is what you get if you collaborate with men who cannot even kill a kid.

    Heirloom (2019)

  • You were sentenced in 1946 for collaborating with the enemy.

    The Guardian Angel (2018)

  • The Pennsylvania Council ordered their execution because they had collaborated with the British.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • So why did TE Data collaborate with the Mubarak regime and block these sites and try to stop the revolution?

    Razors: The Return of Jack the Ripper (2016)

  • The Dutch followed suit by collaborating with the Corsairs in their own freebooting operations against rival European carriers.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Isn't it true that when the vichy government was set up in France... ...you set up a vichy government of your own on Namou... ...and collaborated with the enemy? - I only did what I was obliged to do.

    South Sea Woman (1953)

  • The traitor was executed for choosing to collaborate with the enemy against his own country.

Synonyms

to cooperate
vsto collaborate
543 3.3

To work together with other people to reach the same goal

often refers to helping an enemy and betraying one's own country
to conspire
vsto collaborate
130 5.8

To secretly plan with other people to do something illegal or harmful

involves actively helping an enemy and betraying one's country
to join forces
vsto collaborate
57 3.4

To work together with others to achieve a common goal

can mean joining an enemy to betray one's country in some contexts
to ally
vsto collaborate
45 3.6

To join with a person, group, or country for a common purpose

is specifically about helping an enemy and betraying one's country
to collude
vsto collaborate
44 8.3

To secretly work with others to trick or cheat someone

targets betraying one's own country by helping an enemy
to collaborate with
vsto collaborate
42 4.2

To work together with other people, groups, or tools to do something

means working with an enemy in betrayal of one's country
to join hands
vsto collaborate
24 2.7

To work together with others for the same goal

is used when helping an enemy and betraying one's own country
to ally with
vsto collaborate
12 4.0

To join with another person or group to work together for the same goal

focuses on assisting an enemy and betraying one's own country

Antonyms

to defend
∞ 1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

to resist
311 2.2

Act against authority, rules or change

Phrasal Verbs

to collaborate with
42 4.2

To work together with other people, groups, or tools to do something

How Traitorous

to betray
143 4.6
to collaborate
16 8.2
aid
799 1.0

Surface Forms

collaborate infinitive
collaborated past
collaborated past participle
collaborating present participle
collaborates third person singular

Morphology

collaborate = labor (opaque) = co + labor + ate

Although the form suggests co- plus 'labor', the wartime betrayal sense is not predictable from that immediate combination.

Etymology

Collaborate comes from the same parts com- 'with' and laborare 'to work'. So when people say someone 'collaborated' with an enemy, it means they 'worked with' that enemy, which is often seen as betrayal.