Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Full of or conducive to good will among colleagues; friendly and respectful.
  • adjective Characterized by or having power and authority vested equally among colleagues.
  • adjective Roman Catholic Church Characterized by the equal sharing of power among the bishops.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a college, or an organized body of men appointed to perform any function, as contrasted with an individual: as, a collegial system of judges; a collegial verdict.
  • Relating to a college; collegiate.
  • Eccles., having the character of a collegium, or voluntary assembly which has no relationship to the state. See collegium, collegialism.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare Collegiate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of, relating to, or ruled by colleagues
  • adjective Roman Catholic Church ruled by bishops having equal power
  • adjective of or relating to a college or its students; collegiate
  • adjective possessing adherence to the ethos, standards and conduct that govern behavior among colleagues within a given organization or profession

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characterized by or having authority vested equally among colleagues
  • adjective of or resembling or typical of a college or college students

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin collēgiālis, of colleagues, from collēgium, association; see collegium.]

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Examples

  • Because I have a hard time seeing a long term collegial and cooperative work environment for anyone in a power-deficit position with this person, should they hold different political views.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » The Ethics of Discriminating Against Federalist Society Members For Law Firm Jobs 2009

  • How is he going to get along in what is known as the collegial body there in Congress.

    CNN Transcript Jul 2, 2009 2009

  • Better for old men to be known as collegial team players, who expect to find in the warmth of their associations a tonic for fears of approaching infirmity and extinction.

    Reason Magazine Matt Welch 2010

  • First meeting characterized as collegial and cooperative though unanswered questions remain

    unknown title 2009

  • First meeting characterized as collegial and cooperative though unanswered questions remain

    unknown title 2009

  • "If there was a question, she would come down and discuss it with a kind of collegial approach," said Doug Hallward-Driemeier, a lawyer at Ropes

    A Life Rooted in Pursuit of Education 2010

  • That's the sort of conversation that should occur among professionals in any field, and it's the kind of collegial exchange and professional discretion that has been missing in schools for some time.

    Lisa Petrides: Digital Textbooks, Real Gains for Education 2009

  • Several of us were immediately on edge (Read, pissed/gratified.) that Joe Biden began the debate with a well-mannered, cordiality, while Palin's intro statement ignored any such "collegial" gesture, in exact imitation of the mendacious top of the ticket towards Senator Obama in last week's debate.

    Connie Allenbury: Palin Drives My Friends to Drink Heavily During Debate 2008

  • "" Writers come to us all the time because we can deliver a kind of collegial atmosphere, '' says Kent Carroll of Carroll & Graf.

    A Brand-New Chapter 2008

  • Several of us were immediately on edge (Read, pissed/gratified.) that Joe Biden began the debate with a well-mannered, cordiality, while Palin's intro statement ignored any such "collegial" gesture, in exact imitation of the mendacious top of the ticket towards Senator Obama in last week's debate.

    Connie Allenbury: Palin Drives My Friends to Drink Heavily During Debate 2008

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