Meaning & use
colleagues
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“colleagues” is a form of “colleague”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
nounplural
People who work together, especially in the same profession, office, or organization.
Grammar: Use colleagues for more than one; one person is a colleague.
Patterns
- work with colleagues
- close colleagues
- former colleagues
She discussed the project with her colleagues before the meeting.
Several former colleagues sent messages after the announcement.
My colleagues cover the clinic on weekends.
Common combinations
- close colleagues
- He thanked his close colleagues for their honest feedback.
- former colleagues
- She stays in touch with former colleagues from the museum.
- colleagues from work
- Some colleagues from work joined the cleanup day.
- supportive colleagues
- Supportive colleagues made the first week much easier.
Synonyms and how they differ
- coworkers
- Very close in American English and can include any shared workplace; colleagues sounds slightly more professional.
- peers
- People of equal status or rank, not necessarily people who share your workplace.
- workmates
- Informal and mainly British; colleagues is safer in formal writing.
Word family
Commonly confused: colleagues or college? colleagues or collegues?
colleagues vs college
College is a school or part of a university; colleagues are people you work with. The spellings and vowels differ.
colleagues vs collegues
A common misspelling; the correct plural is colleagues with an a before -gue.
Practice
Choose the correctly spelled word for the sentence: She emailed her ___ about the schedule change.
Choose one answer.
The standard spelling is colleagues, plural of colleague. Collegues is a misspelling, colleges are institutions, and collagues is not an English word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “colleagues”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.