colleague

noun

col·​league ˈkä-(ˌ)lēg 

: an associate or coworker typically in a profession or in a civil or ecclesiastical office and often of similar rank or status : a fellow worker or professional

colleagueship

ˈkä-(ˌ)lēg-ˌship 

noun

Did you know?

Which of the following words come from the same source as colleague: college, legacy, collaborate, allegation, collar, relegate, delegate? It might be easier to guess if you know that the ancestor in question is legare, a Latin verb meaning "to choose or send as a deputy or emissary" or "to bequeath." All of the words in the list above except collaborate (which comes from the Latin collaborare, meaning "to labor together") and collar (from collum, collus, Latin for "neck") are descendants of legare.

Synonyms

• associate
• confrere
• confrère
• coworker

Examples of colleague in a Sentence

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

A colleague of mine will be speaking at the conference.

on her first day at work her colleagues went out of their way to make her feel welcome

Recent Examples on the Web

And, often, plopped down in his colleagues’ offices for lengthy, illuminating conversation. —Mirjam Swanson, Orange County Register, 12 June 2024

Fronted by Meyers’s former SNL colleague Fred Armisen, the collective — consisting of guitarist Seth Jabour, bassist Syd Butler, keyboardist Eli Janney, and, at the time, drummer Kimberly Thompson — proved to be more than capable. —Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 11 June 2024

Now Willett and his colleagues at Harvard University have checked their work against real-world data. —Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2024

His latest project is the subject of much hand-wringing among his friends, creative partners and former colleagues, many of whom see Mr. Kennedy as a dangerous egomaniac pushing anti-vaccine messages and antigovernment conspiracy theories. —Rebecca Davis O’Brien, New York Times, 10 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle French collegue, from Latin collega, from com- + legare to depute — more at legate

First Known Use

circa 1533, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

colleague

noun

col·​league ˈkäl-ˌēg 

: an associate in a profession or office