Meaning & use
cooperative
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableapproving
Willing to help or do what is asked, instead of causing difficulty.
Grammar: Can follow be or seem: a cooperative witness, he was very cooperative.
Patterns
- be cooperative with someone
- a cooperative attitude
The suspect was calm and cooperative when police arrived.
Our toddler is rarely cooperative at bath time.
The staff were friendly and cooperative throughout the inspection.
adjectivebefore a noun
Done by people or groups working together toward a shared aim.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a cooperative effort, cooperative learning.
Patterns
- a cooperative effort
- a cooperative venture
The bridge was a cooperative effort between two countries.
Teachers use cooperative learning to get pupils working in groups.
The cleanup was a cooperative project led by local volunteers.
nouncountable
A business or organization owned and run by its members, who share its benefits or profits.
Grammar: Often shortened to co-op in speech: a farmers' cooperative.
Patterns
- join a cooperative
- a cooperative of something
The farmers formed a cooperative to sell their milk at better prices.
She works at a housing cooperative in the city.
The bakery is run as a worker cooperative.
Word forms
| comparative | more cooperative |
|---|---|
| superlative | most cooperative |
| plural | cooperatives |
Common combinations
- cooperative effort
- Winning the grant was a cooperative effort.
- highly cooperative
- The patient was highly cooperative during the exam.
- cooperative spirit
- A cooperative spirit helped the team finish early.
- agricultural cooperative
- The agricultural cooperative negotiated lower prices for seed.
- cooperative society
- The cooperative society runs several shops in the town.
Synonyms and how they differ
- helpful
- Helpful describes anyone who gives assistance, while cooperative emphasizes going along with a request or a joint effort.
- compliant
- Compliant suggests simply obeying, and may sound negative, while cooperative suggests active willingness.
- collaborative
- Collaborative describes a shared creative or intellectual project, and cooperative can also mean merely being easy to deal with.
- obliging
- Obliging means eager to do favors, whereas cooperative means working with others toward a result.
Opposites
Word family
- cooperate verb
- to work or act together
- cooperation noun
- the act of working together
- cooperatively adverb
- in a way that works together
- uncooperative adjective
- unwilling to help or work with others
Commonly confused: cooperative or collaborative?
cooperative vs collaborative
Collaborative usually refers to creating something together, while cooperative can simply mean willing to help or not resist.
Practice
After a slow start, the neighbors became ______ and agreed to share the cost of the new fence.
Choose one answer.
After became, an adjective is needed, and cooperative fits. Cooperation is a noun and cooperate is a verb, so neither works after became.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cooperative”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.