What does collocational mean?
Collocational means relating to collocation: the customary combinations of words that speakers recognize as natural, conventional, or meaningful together. A word may have several collocational patterns, such as make a decision rather than take a decision, and these patterns can reveal its typical meanings and register. The term is especially useful in language teaching, lexicography, translation, and corpus research, because knowing a word in isolation does not necessarily show how it is used in practice. Collocational relationships may be strongly conventional, as with expressions such as heavy rain and strong coffee, or more flexible, as with words that can accompany many different partners. The adjective therefore describes more than simple grammatical compatibility: it concerns the habits of association formed by a language community. Understanding these relationships helps learners produce wording that sounds natural and helps analysts explain why a technically correct phrase may nevertheless sound unusual.
adjectiveRelating to collocation, especially to the customary and sometimes semantically restricted ways in which words occur together.
- Relating to or concerning the customary ways in which words occur together.
"The translator noted that the phrase had a strong collocational association with formal legal language."
"Learners often memorize new vocabulary in collocational groups rather than as isolated words."
"The word has a strongly collocational relationship with expressions of uncertainty in formal writing."
Collocational is the linguist's label for the invisible glue that makes a phrase sound natural.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of collocational
The English noun collocation was borrowed from Latin collocatio, meaning a placing together and derived from collocare, to place together. The adjective collocational was formed in English from collocation by adding the suffix -al. It became established in linguistic discussion as a term for the conventional relationships among words in phrases and expressions.
Related word forms
How collocational is actually used
Primarily a term of linguistics, lexicography, and translation studies. It describes conventions of word association, not merely whether two words are grammatically compatible.
Easily confused with collocational
Both words are technical adjectives relating to collocation, but collocative is a less common synonym, whereas collocational is the standard form used in linguistics and lexicography.