collocation

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of collocation The collocation of them is not unusual. New York Times, 30 July 2021 The risk of these writers’ style, with their short chapters and darting insights, is randomness, and sometimes this book, whatever its thematic claims, seems to consist of what has come under the author’s eye, an arbitrary collocation. Charles Finch, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for collocation
Noun
  • Allowing kids to complete the phrases on each page in their own words is a unique, personalized touch that could also act as a time capsule.
    DeVonne Goode, Parents, 6 June 2025
  • Lin had a remarkable memory for words, phrases, and formulas.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 June 2025
Noun
  • Unleashing Wood has ushered in an exciting new phase for a widely influential band that has defined a state-of-the-art jazz idiom deeply engaged with other genres.
    Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 23 May 2025
  • Scientists analyzed recordings of three groups of chimpanzees living in the Ivory Coast and found that chimps can combine their hoots, grunts and calls in a similar way to how humans use idioms or change the order of words to build new phrases.
    Evan Bush, NBC news, 11 May 2025
Noun
  • Confucius says—an old-fashioned locution, perhaps, but appropriate here—never to take interest in feats of strength.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
  • That archly strangled locution, the ceaseless scorn: the vendor’s voice nags at the former Dean Street boy.
    Rachel Cusk, Harper's Magazine, 27 Sep. 2023

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Collocation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/collocation. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on collocation

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!