adjective

1. formed by collecting; gathered into a whole
2. of, as, or characteristic of a group; of or by all or many of the individuals in a group acting together the collective effort of the students
3. designating or of any enterprise in which people work together as a group, esp. under a system of collectivism a collective farm
4. Gram.
   1. designating a noun which is singular in form but denotes a collection of individuals (e.g., army, orchestra, crowd): it is treated as singular when the collection is thought of as a whole and as plural when the individual members are thought of as acting separately
   2. designating a prefix which denotes a collecting or a collection

Etymology: ME & OFr collectif < L collectivus

noun

1. any collective enterprise; specif., a collective farm
2. the people working in such an enterprise
3. Gram. a collective noun