Differences Between Collaborate and Corroborate

People collaborating on a puzzle

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By
Richard Nordquist
Richard Nordquist
English and Rhetoric Professor
  • Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
  • M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
  • B.A., English, State University of New York
Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks.
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Updated on March 24, 2019

If you are having a hard time deciding when to use the commonly confused words, collaborate and corroborate, you are not the only one. Here are the definitions of each of these terms to help you in your writing:

The verb collaborate means to cooperate or work jointly with others.

The verb corroborate means to strengthen, support, or confirm with evidence.

Examples of Usage

  • "In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." (Charles Darwin)
  • According to legend, he killed over a hundred men, but no historian has been able to corroborate this claim.

Practice Usage

(a) Divine was hired to _____ with the author to produce a new screenplay.
(b) True ideas are those we can assimilate, validate, _____, and verify.

Answers:

(a) Divine was hired to collaborate with the author to produce a new screenplay.
(b) True ideas are those we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify.

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Your Citation
Nordquist, Richard. "Differences Between Collaborate and Corroborate." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/collaborate-and-corroborate-differences-1689738. Nordquist, Richard. (2021, February 16). Differences Between Collaborate and Corroborate. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/collaborate-and-corroborate-differences-1689738 Nordquist, Richard. "Differences Between Collaborate and Corroborate." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/collaborate-and-corroborate-differences-1689738 (accessed June 4, 2023).
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