collaborator
collaborator Lexical Profile
collaborator Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person who works jointly with others on an activity, project, or intellectual endeavor.
"The lead scientist credited her international collaborators for helping to analyze the genomic data."
A person who treasonously cooperates with an enemy force occupying their country.
"After the liberation of the city, historians examined the court records of suspected wartime collaborators."
Word Nuance & Usage
While usually positive or neutral in professional, artistic, and academic contexts ('a research collaborator'), in wartime or political contexts 'collaborator' carries a strongly pejorative sense of a traitor who cooperates with an occupying enemy.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the early 19th century from French 'collaborateur', from Late Latin 'collaborat-', past participle stem of 'collaborare' ('to work with'), formed from 'com-' ('together') and 'laborare' ('to work').