collocate

col•lo•cate (KOL-uh-keyt

Definition:
v tr
1. to set or place together, especially side by side or in a particular relation
2. to arrange in proper order: to collocate events
3. to be habitually juxtaposed with another with a frequency greater than chance (of a word)
v intr
4. to enter into a collocation (linguistics)
n
5. a word that is habitually juxtaposed with another with a frequency greater than chance
collocated past participle; collocated past tense; collocating present participle; collocates 3rd person singular present; collocation noun

Origin:
early 13c; from L. collocatus, pp. of collocare "to arrange, place together, set in a place," from com- "together" + locare "to place"

Related:
Related Words: locate, allocate, couch

Sentence Examples:
• Mr. Forsyth says: "Nothing can exceed the beauty of the language, the rhythmical flow of the periods, and the harmony of the style. The structure of the Latin language, which enables the speaker or writer to collocate his words, not, as in English, merely according to the order of thought, but in the manner best calculated to produce effect, too often baffles the powers of the translator who seeks to give the force of the passage without altering the arrangement." - The Life of Cicero, Anthony Trollope

• Or, to put it in other words, though certain causes, collocated in the proper way, would, on this view of evolution, explain everything which ensued from that collocation, we should still want to know why the causes were collocated in that particular way rather than in any other. - Evolution, Frank B. Jevons

• When he hears a nightingale-"sad Philomel!"-he concludes that the bird was originally created for no other purpose than to prophesy in Paradise the fall of man, or, as he chooses to collocate the words, "Prophetic to have mourned of man the fall," but he does not tell us what she has been doing ever since. - Famous Reviews, R. Brimley Johnson


Sources: Dictionary.com, Google, Online Etymology

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