collected

American  

[kuh-lek-tid] / kəˈlɛk tɪd /

adjective

1. having control of one's faculties; self-possessed.

   Despite all the turmoil around him, Bob remained calm and collected.

2. brought or placed together; forming an aggregation from various sources.

   the money collected to build an orphanage; the collected essays of Thoreau.

3. Manège.

   1. (of a moving horse) noting a compact pose in which the legs are well under the body, the head is arched at the poll, the jaw is relaxed, etc.

   2. (of a gait of such a horse) characterized by short, elevated strides.

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collected British  

/ kəˈlɛktɪd /

adjective

1. in full control of one's faculties; composed

2. assembled in totality or brought together into one volume or a set of volumes

   the collected works of Dickens

3. (of a horse or a horse's pace) controlled so that movement is in short restricted steps

   a collected canter

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collected Idioms  

1. see cool, calm, and collected.

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Related Words

See calm.

Other Word Forms

• collectedly adverb
• collectedness noun
• uncollected adjective
• well-collected adjective

Etymology

Origin of collected

First recorded in 1600–10; collect ¹ + -ed ²

Explanation

Use the adjective collected to describe a person who stays cool and calm, even under pressure. There are certain people who always seem completely self-possessed and unflappable no matter what is going on around them. You can describe these people as collected. If a kid throws up on the school bus and the driver is unruffled, he is collected. A confident, poised trapeze artist is also collected. If you're upset, you might say, "I need to collect myself," and once you have calmed yourself, you are collected.

Example Sentences

"Well, we want the litter collected and also we want to see much more education of the public. You need to move on all these different fronts."

From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026

The victim, Adbadalla Thabet, collected cash from gas stations in Downey, Bellflower, Compton and Lynwood early in the morning before driving to the bank.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2026

As my blood counts fluctuated, and infections threatened, our middle sibling, Art Landro, provided platelet support collected from his blood.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026

They used biologging data collected from small sensors that record body and water temperatures.

From Science Daily • Apr. 18, 2026

She told me that we can’t afford to be controlled by our feelings—that we needed to be cool, calm, and collected.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer