Meanings
present singular third person cooperates · participle present cooperating · participle past cooperated · past cooperated · alternative UK co-operate · alternative dated coöperate
- intransitiveTo work or act together, especially for a common purpose or benefit.
In polling by the Pew Research Center in November 2008, fully half the respondents thought the two parties would cooperate more in the coming year, versus only 36 percent who thought the climate would grow more adversarial.
2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times - intransitiveTo allow for mutual unobstructed action.
- intransitiveTo function in harmony, side by side.
- intransitiveTo engage in economic cooperation.
- jargontransitivelawTo obtain the cooperation of (a potential witness); to turn (someone) into a cooperating witness.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latincooperātus
- Englishcooperate
Originated 1595–1605 from Late Latin cooperātus, perfect passive participle of cooperor (“to work with”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more. Equivalent to co- + operate. Displaced native Old English efnwyrċan.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek συμπράσσω
- συμπράσσω (sumprássō)to work together
Arabic تَعَاوَنَ
- تَعَاوَنَ (taʕāwana)to work together
Bulgarian сътру́днича
- сътру́днича (sătrúdniča)to work together
Catalan cooperar
- cooperarto work together
Chinese Mandarin 合作, 協力 /协力
- 合作 (hézuò)to work together
- 協力 /协力 (xiélì)to work together
- 一力 (yīlì)to work together
Czech spolupracovat
- spolupracovatto work together
Danish samarbejde, samspille
- samarbejdeto work together
- samspillefunction in harmony, side by side
Dutch samenwerken
- samenwerkento work together
Esperanto kunlabori, kunagi
- kunlaborito work together
- kunagito work together
Finnish tehdä yhteistyötä, toimia yhteistyössä
- tehdä yhteistyötäto work together
- toimia yhteistyössäto work together
French coopérer, collaborer
- coopérerto work together
- collaborerto work together
German zusammenarbeiten, kooperieren
- zusammenarbeitento work together
- kooperierento work together
- harmonierenfunction in harmony, side by side
- zusammenspielenfunction in harmony, side by side
Hebrew שִׁתֵּף פְּעֻלָּה
- שִׁתֵּף פְּעֻלָּה (shitéf p'ulá)to work together
Hindi सहयोग करना
- सहयोग करना (sahyog karnā)to work together
Hungarian együttműködik, kooperál
- együttműködikto work together
- kooperálto work together
Icelandic vinna saman
- vinna samanto work together
Italian cooperare, collaborare
- cooperareto work together
- collaborareto work together
Japanese 協力する
- 協力する (kyōryoku suru)to work together
Korean 협력하다
- 협력하다 (hyeomnyeokhada)to work together
Lithuanian bendradarbiauti
- bendradarbiautito work together
Malay bekerjasama
- bekerjasamato work together
Norwegian samarbeide
- samarbeideto work together
Polish współpracować
- współpracowaćto work together
Portuguese cooperar, colaborar
- cooperarto work together
- colaborarto work together
Romanian coopera
- cooperato work together
Russian сотру́дничать, коопери́ровать
- сотру́дничать (sotrúdničatʹ)to work together
- коопери́ровать (kooperírovatʹ)to work together
Slovak spolupracovať
- spolupracovaťto work together
Spanish cooperar
- cooperarto work together
Swedish samarbeta, samverka
- samarbetato work together
- samverkato work together
- samspelafunction in harmony, side by side
Tamil ஒத்துழை, ஒத்துழை
- ஒத்துழை (ottuḻai)to work together
- ஒத்துழை (ottuḻai)function in harmony, side by side
Thai ร่วมมือ
- ร่วมมือ (rûuam-mʉʉ)to work together
Turkish işbirliği yapmak
- işbirliği yapmakto work together
Ukrainian співпрацюва́ти
- співпрацюва́ти (spivpracjuváty)to work together
Vietnamese cộng tác
- cộng tácto work together
Welsh cydweithio
- cydweithioto work together
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with cooperate
All rhymes →Cite this entry
cooperate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cooperate
“cooperate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cooperate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cooperate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cooperate.
Source: cooperate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.