Meaning & use
cooperating
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“cooperating” is a form of “cooperate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbintransitive
Working together with others so that a shared aim is achieved.
Grammar: No object; used with with or in: cooperating with colleagues.
Patterns
- cooperate with someone
- cooperate in doing something
- cooperate on something
The two schools are cooperating on a joint science project.
Neighbors were cooperating to clean up the street.
The countries are cooperating in the search for survivors.
verbintransitive
Doing what someone asks or allowing them to do their job, instead of being difficult.
Grammar: Often used about people dealing with authorities or helpers.
Patterns
- cooperate with the police
- cooperate fully
The witness is cooperating fully with the police.
If you cooperate, the check-in will take just a minute.
The toddler refused to cooperate at bath time.
Word forms
| base form | cooperate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | cooperates |
| past tense | cooperated |
| past participle | cooperated |
Common combinations
- cooperating with the authorities
- The suspect is cooperating with the authorities.
- cooperating closely
- The two firms are cooperating closely on the new design.
- cooperating fully
- All staff are cooperating fully with the audit.
- cooperating witness
- A cooperating witness helped the investigators.
- willing to cooperate
- She was willing to cooperate from the start.
Synonyms and how they differ
- collaborating
- Collaborating suggests creating something together, often creatively, while cooperating can simply mean going along with someone.
- working together
- Working together is the plain phrase and does not suggest the compliance cooperating can imply.
- complying
- Complying means obeying a rule or request, and does not suggest shared effort.
- assisting
- Assisting means helping someone else's work, whereas cooperating is mutual.
Opposites
Word family
- cooperation noun
- the act of working together
- cooperative adjective
- willing to help, or involving joint effort
- cooperatively adverb
- in a helpful, shared way
- cooperative noun
- a business owned by its members
- uncooperative adjective
- unwilling to help or follow requests
Commonly confused: cooperating or coordinating?
cooperating vs coordinating
Coordinating means organizing different parts to work well together, whereas cooperating means joining in shared effort.
Practice
The two research teams are ___ on a new vaccine.
Choose one answer.
Working together on one aim is cooperating. Competing, opposing and resisting would mean working against each other.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cooperating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.