What does collided mean?
"Collided" is the past tense and past participle of the verb "collide", meaning to strike forcefully against something else. Its most common use is literal: vehicles, ships, aircraft, or other moving objects are said to have collided when they crash into one another, as in "the two trains collided on the bridge." The word also carries a well-established figurative sense, describing situations where people, groups, interests, or ideas come into direct conflict — two rival visions for a company may be said to have collided. Because it conveys sudden, forceful encounter, it carries a dramatic connotation in both physical and abstract uses. Grammatically, it typically appears with the preposition "with" to introduce the thing struck. Derived ultimately from Latin "collidere", meaning to strike together, it entered English in the early seventeenth century and remains the standard term for violent impact in both everyday speech and technical reporting.
verbPast tense and past participle of collide: to crash into one another with force, or (of people or ideas) to come into sharp conflict or disagreement.
- (of moving objects) crashed violently into each other
- (of people, groups, or ideas) came into strong conflict or disagreement
"The two trains collided at the junction, derailing several carriages."
"The van skidded on ice and collided with a parked car."
"Their ambitions collided from the start, and the partnership soon fell apart."
'Collided' traces back to the Latin for 'to strike together' — the same root that gives us 'collision', the word physicists use when particles smash at near light speed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of collided
"Collided" derives from the Latin verb "collidere", formed from "com-" (together) and "laedere" (to strike or hurt). The verb "collide" was borrowed into English in the early seventeenth century, initially in contexts of physical impact, and its figurative sense of conflict developed later. It is related to English words such as "collision" and shares the root "laedere" with "elide".
Related word forms
How collided is actually used
"Collided" is the standard past tense of the verb "collide". In its literal sense it implies forceful impact between moving objects; in figurative use it describes clashes between people, interests, or ideas. It takes an object introduced by "with" rather than being used transitively without one.
Easily confused with collided
To have collided is to crash or clash with something, while to have coincided is merely to occur at the same time or place.