colleague

colleague — noun

1. a person who works in the same company, office, or profession as you, often with

1.nounA2
Definition

a person who works in the same company, office, or profession as you, often with a similar level of responsibility

Example

Aiko asked her colleague Theo to check the report before the meeting.

[possessive determiner] + colleague + to-infinitive

Priya invited a few colleagues from the sales team to her birthday party.

colleague(s) + from + [group/department]

Common collocations
  • close colleague
  • senior colleague
  • junior colleague
  • former colleague
  • work colleague
  • professional colleague
Synonyms
  • coworker

    less formal; simply means someone at the same workplace, regardless of profession or rank

  • associate

    more formal; can refer to a business partner or someone in the same field but not the same company

  • teammate

    focuses on working toward a shared goal; common in project-based or sports contexts

Usage Note

Colleague is more formal than coworker and often implies shared professional standing rather than just a shared workplace.

Common Mistakes

I met my colleague at school.
I met my classmate at school.
colleague is for people you work with, not people you study with.

Word family

  • collegial
    adjectiveC1
  • collegiality
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Colleague, coworker, associate, and teammate all describe people you interact with in a professional setting, but each carries a different nuance. Colleague is the most neutral and widely used term, appropriate in both formal and informal contexts to describe someone you work with, especially in the same profession or at a similar rank. Coworker is more casual and simply means someone at the same workplace — a cashier and a store manager are coworkers, though they may not be colleagues in the professional sense. Associate can be more formal, often used for business partners or as a job title ('research associate'). Teammate emphasizes collaboration toward a shared goal and is common in project-based environments. When referring to someone in the same profession at a different workplace, colleague is the best choice: 'A colleague at another hospital recommended this treatment.'

colleague ↗coworkerassociate ↗teammate

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • colleague of mine
  • colleague of yours
  • colleague of his

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Colleague comes from the Latin word 'collega', which combines 'com-' (together) and 'legare' (to send or choose). In ancient Rome, a collega was a person chosen to share an official position. The word entered English through French in the 1500s and has kept its core meaning of someone you work alongside.