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AWL Collocation Dictionary

A dictionary of collocates and colligations for words in the Academic Word List

The AWL Collocation Dictionary

The AWL Collocation Dictionary



About this Dictionary

A large part of mastering the vocabulary of a language is understanding collocations. This dictionary lists collocates and colligations for all of the headwords (for each family) in the Academic Word List and many of the other words in each family. Words which are missing are those for which strong collocates do not occur, such as adverbs used as adverbials (e.g. nevertheless, notwithstanding, conversely …), those which occur in fixed phrases or prepositional verbs (e.g. on behalf of, consist of...), and some others such as inflectional forms.

There is also a selection of words from the New Academic Word List, indicated by NAWL and from the *Academic Keyword Word List, indicated by AKL.

Be aware that a word may have more than one meaning so the collocate list may contain words which collocate with only one of those meanings. For example the word 'appreciation' shows the noun collocates "art appreciation", "capital appreciation", "stock appreciation", "music appreciation", and others. There are two meanings of appreciation here:

  1. recognition and approval of ("art appreciation" and "music appreciation");
  2. growth ("capital appreciation" and "stock appreciation")
You can see a similar separation of meanings for the noun collocates of 'attitude' ("defeatist attitude" v. "flight attitude").

Some words only have one or two strong collocates; others have very many. Each collocate list in this dictionary is limited to ten examples.

There are nine categories of collocates listed:

  • adjective - NOUN (shows the commonest adjectives for a noun headword);
  • ADJECTIVE - noun (shows which nouns an adjective commonly modifies);
  • noun - NOUN (nouns may be modified by other nouns, acting like adjectives);
  • NOUN - noun (shows which nouns a noun commonly modifies);
  • ADVERB - adjective (shows which adjectives an adverb commonly modifies);
  • adverb - ADJECTIVE (shows which adverbs commonly modify a particular adjective);
  • VERB - noun (shows which nouns commonly follow a particular verb);
  • VERB - adverb (shows which adverbs commonly postmodify a particular verb);
  • verb - NOUN (shows which verbs commonly precedes a particular noun).
Upper-case denotes the headword and lower-case the collocates. Enter a word in the search box or click the button to view a random entry from the dictionary.

For some words there is also an indication of important grammatical structures in which the headword may appear. These are indicated under the heading Colligation.

Here is an example of the result of a search for collocates of the word "display".

You can see a full list of all the headwords in this dictionary in the headwords section below.

AWl Collocates Dictionary Display


Headwords in this Dictionary

There are 2178 headwords in this dictionary; 1364 are from the academic word list and the rest are from the new academic word list (406) or the academic keyword list (408): abandon, abandoned, abandonment, ability, able, abnormal, abnormality, abnormally, absence, absent, absolute, absolutely, absorb, absorption, abstract, abstraction, academic, academically, academy, accelerate, acceleration, accent, accept, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accommodate, accommodation, accompaniment, accompanying, accordingly, account, accumulate, accumulated, accumulation, accuracy, accurate, achievable, achieve, achievement, acknowledge, acknowledged, acknowledgement, acquire, acquired, acquisition, act, action, activate, active, activity, actual, acute, adapt, adaptable, adaptation, adapted, addition, additional, adequacy, adequate, adequately, adjacent, adjust, adjusted, adjustment, administer, administration, administrative, administratively, administrator, admission, admit, adopt, adoption, adult, adults, advance, advancement, advantage, adverse, advice, advocate, affect, affected, affecting, affective, age, aggregate, agriculture, aid, aids, aim, alliance, allocate, allocated, allocation, allow, allowance, ally, alter, alteration, alternate, alternating, alternative, altitude, ambiguity, ambiguous, amend, amendment, amount, analogous, analogy, analyse, analysis, analyst, analytical, ancestor, annual, annually, anthropologist, anthropology, antibody, anticipate, anticipation, apparent, apparently, appear, appearance, append, appendix, applaud, applause, applicable, application, apply, appreciable, appreciably, appreciate, appreciation, approach, approachable, approaching, appropriate, appropriately, approximate, approximately, approximation, arbitrarily, arbitrary, architect, architectural, area, argue, argument, arise, array, arrow, articulate, artificial, artificially, artist, artistic, aspect, aspects, assemble, assembled, assembly, assert, assertion, assess, assessable, assessed, assessment, assign, assigned, assignment, assist, assistance, assistant, assisted, associate, association, assume, assumed, assumption, assurance, assure, assured, atom, atomic, attach, attachment, attain, attainable, attainment, attempt, attend, attention, attitude, attitudes, attributable, attribute, attributed, attribution, auction, audit, author, authorise, authoritative, authority, automated, automatic, automatically, automation, autonomous, autonomy, availability, available, average, avoid, avoidance, awareness, axis, backward, backwards, bacteria, balance, base, basic, basically, basin, basis, beam, become, behave, behaviour, being, belief, believe, beneficial, beneficiary, benefit, benefits, bias, biased, biological, biology, birth, blank, bond, bonus, bound, bracket, breakdown, brief, bubble, bulk, bulky, bullet, bundle, calcium, calculation, capabilities, capability, capable, capacities, capacity, capitalism, capitalist, case, categorical, categories, categorise, category, cause, cease, ceaseless, central, centre, certain, challenge, change, channel, chapter, character, characteristic, chart, cheat, chemical, chemically, chemistry, choice, choose, chronic, circulate, circulation, circumstance, circumstances, cite, civil, civilization, claim, clarification, clarify, clarity, class, classic, classical, classically, classics, classification, classify, clause, clay, clear, clearly, clever, client, clinic, closely, closure, clue, code, coefficient, cognition, cognitive, coherence, coherent, coincide, coincidence, coincidental, collapse, collapsed, collapsible, collapsing, colleague, colleagues, collective, colonial, combination, combine, commence, commentary, commentator, comments, commission, commissioner, commit, commitment, committed, committee, commodity, common, commonly, communicable, communicate, communication, communications, communicative, communities, community, comparable, comparative, comparatively, compare, comparison, compatibility, compatible, compensate, compensation, compensatory, compete, competence, competent, competitive, compilation, compile, complement, complementary, complete, complex, complexity, complication, component, components, compound, compounds, comprehend, comprehension, comprehensive, comprise, compromise, computation, computational, computer, computing, conceivable, conceive, concentrate, concentrated, concentration, concept, conception, conceptual, concern, conclude, concluding, conclusion, conclusive, concurrent, condition, conduct, cone, confer, conference, configuration, confine, confined, confines, confining, confirm, confirmation, confirmed, conflict, conflicting, conform, conformity, connect, connection, conscious, consciously, consciousness, consensus, consent, consenting, consequence, consequences, consequently, conservation, conserve, consider, considerable, considerably, consideration, consist, consistency, consistent, consistently, constant, constantly, constituency, constituent, constitute, constitution, constitutional, constitutionally, constrain, constraint, constraints, construct, constructed, construction, constructive, consult, consultant, consultation, consume, consumer, consumers, consumption, contact, contain, container, contemporary, content, context, contextual, continent, continuity, contract, contracting, contractor, contradict, contradiction, contradictory, contrary, contrast, contrasting, contrastive, contribute, contribution, control, controversial, controversy, convention, conventional, conventionally, convergence, conversion, convert, converted, convertible, convince, convinced, convincing, cooperation, cooperative, coordinate, coordinated, coordinating, coordination, cord, core, corporate, corporation, correct, correction, correlate, correlation, correspond, correspondence, corresponding, correspondingly, corruption, country, couple, create, creation, creative, credibility, credit, creditor, crisis, criteria, criterion, critical, criticism, critique, crucial, crucially, crude, crystal, cultural, culturally, culture, cure, currency, curriculum, cycle, cyclical, cylinder, damage, damp, data, deadline, deal, debatable, debate, decade, decades, decay, deceive, decide, decision, decline, declining, deduce, deduction, defect, defence, defend, deficiency, define, defined, defining, definite, definitely, definition, definitive, degree, demand, demonstrable, demonstrably, demonstrate, demonstration, demonstrative, demonstrator, denial, denominator, denotation, deny, depend, dependence, dependent, depress, depressed, depressing, depression, derivation, derivative, derive, derived, describe, description, design, designer, destination, destroy, destruction, detailed, detect, detectable, detection, detective, detectives, detector, determination, determine, develop, development, deviation, device, devote, devoted, devotion, diagnosis, diagram, diameter, dictate, differ, difference, different, differentiate, differentiation, difficult, difficulty, diffusion, dilemma, dimension, dimensional, dimensions, diminish, diminished, direct, directive, directly, disability, disable, disadvantage, discharge, discourse, discover, discovery, discrete, discretion, discretionary, discrimination, discuss, discussion, displace, displaced, displacement, display, disposable, disposal, dispose, disposed, disproportionately, dissimilar, dissolve, distinct, distinction, distinctive, distinctively, distinctly, distinguish, distort, distorted, distortion, distribute, distributed, distribution, distributor, disturbance, diverse, diversity, divide, division, doctrine, document, documentation, documented, domain, domestic, domesticate, domesticated, dominance, dominant, dominate, domination, donor, dose, draft, drain, drama, dramatic, dramatically, drift, duration, dynamic, dynamics, early, economic, economical, economically, economics, economist, economists, economy, edit, edited, edition, editor, editorial, effect, effective, effectively, effectiveness, elaborate, elasticity, electron, element, elements, elevation, eliminate, elimination, elite, emerge, emergence, emergent, emerging, emission, emit, emphasis, emphasise, emphasize, emphatic, empirical, empirically, empiricism, employ, employment, enable, encounter, encourage, encouragement, energetic, energy, enforce, enforcement, enhance, enhanced, enhancement, enormous, enormously, ensure, entities, entity, environment, environmental, environmentally, enzyme, epidemic, equal, equality, equally, equate, equation, equilibrium, equip, equipment, equivalence, equivalent, erode, eroded, erosion, erroneous, error, especially, essence, essential, essentially, establish, established, establishment, estate, estimate, estimated, estimation, ethic, ethical, ethically, ethics, ethnic, evaluate, evaluation, evaluative, event, eventual, eventually, evidence, evident, evidential, evidently, evolution, evolutionary, evolve, evolved, evolving, examination, examine, example, exceed, exception, excessive, exclude, excluded, exclusion, exclusive, exclusively, execute, execution, exhibit, exhibition, exist, existence, expand, expanded, expanding, expansion, expansive, experience, experiment, experimental, expert, expertise, explain, explanation, explicit, explicitly, exploit, exploitation, exploited, export, exports, expose, exposed, exposure, express, extend, extensive, extent, external, extract, extraction, extreme, extremely, fabric, facilitate, facility, fact, factor, factors, faculty, fail, failure, fairly, far, fatigue, favour, favourable, feature, features, federal, federation, fee, feedback, fees, fertile, fertilise, fertility, fever, figure, file, files, final, finalise, finality, finally, finance, financial, financially, finite, fixed, flexibility, flexible, fluctuating, fluctuation, fluctuations, focus, focused, follow, following, force, form, formal, format, formation, formula, formulae, formulate, formulation, forthcoming, forum, fossil, found, foundation, founder, founding, fraction, framework, freight, frequent, frequently, friction, fully, function, functional, functionally, functions, fund, fundamental, fundamentally, funded, funding, funds, fusion, future, gain, gender, general, generally, generate, generation, global, globe, goal, goals, goods, govern, grade, gradient, grant, grasp, gravity, great, greatly, grid, gross, group, growth, guarantee, guaranteed, guidance, guideline, guidelines, habitat, harvest, headquarters, hierarchical, hierarchy, high, highlight, highly, horizon, horizontal, human, hypothesis, hypothetical, idea, ideal, identical, identically, identifiable, identification, identified, identify, identifying, identity, ideological, ideologically, ideology, ignorance, ignorant, ignore, illegal, illogical, illusion, illustrate, illustrated, illustration, illustrative, image, immature, immaturity, immediate, immigrant, immigration, impact, implement, implementation, implication, implications, implicit, implicitly, imply, importance, important, impose, imposing, imposition, improve, improvement, impulse, impulses, impulsive, inaccessible, inaccurate, inadequate, inappropriate, inappropriately, incapable, incentive, incentives, incidence, incident, incidentally, inclination, inclined, include, inclusion, income, incompatibility, incompatible, inconsistency, inconsistent, incorporate, incorporated, incorporation, increase, increasingly, incredible, incredibly, indefinite, indefinitely, independent, independently, index, indexed, indicate, indicated, indication, indications, indicative, indicator, indicators, indifference, indirect, indirectly, indiscretion, indistinct, individual, individually, induce, induced, induction, inequality, inevitable, inevitably, infect, infection, infectious, infer, inference, infinite, infinitely, inflexible, influence, influential, inform, informal, information, infrastructure, inherent, inherently, inhibit, inhibited, inhibiting, inhibition, initial, initially, initiate, initiative, initiatives, injection, injure, injured, injuries, injury, innovate, innovation, innovations, innovative, input, insect, insecure, insert, insight, insights, insignificant, inspect, inspection, inspector, instability, instance, instinct, institute, institution, institutional, instruct, instruction, instructions, instructive, instructor, insufficient, integral, integrate, integrated, integration, integrity, intelligence, intelligent, intelligently, intense, intensely, intensify, intensity, intensive, interact, interaction, interactions, interactive, interest, interesting, interface, intermediate, internal, interpret, interpretation, interpretative, interpretive, interrupt, interval, intervening, intervention, intrinsic, intrinsically, introduce, introduction, invade, invariably, invasion, inversion, invest, investigate, investigating, investigation, investigative, investigator, investing, investment, investor, invisible, involve, involved, involvement, irrelevant, irreversible, Is “Column B”‎, isolate, isolated, isolation, issue, issued, issues, item, itemise, items, job, journal, junior, justifiable, justifiably, justification, justified, justify, kind, knowledge, label, labelled, labour, laboured, labouring, lack, large, largely, late, layer, layout, lead, leading, leaf, lecture, lecturer, legal, legality, legally, legend, legislation, legislative, legislature, legitimate, level, lexical, liable, liberal, liberate, liberated, liberating, liberation, liberator, licence, license, lifestyle, lifetime, likelihood, likely, limb, limit, limited, linear, linguistic, linguistics, link, linked, list, literature, local, locate, location, logic, logical, logically, loss, machinery, magnetic, magnitude, main, mainly, maintain, maintained, maintenance, major, majority, male, manipulate, manipulation, manipulative, manual, manuscript, marble, margin, marginal, marginally, material, mathematical, matrix, mature, maturity, maximisation, maximise, maximize, maximum, measure, mechanic, mechanical, mechanism, media, mediate, mediation, medical, medically, medium, member, membrane, mental, mentally, metabolism, metaphor, method, methodical, methodology, migrate, migrating, migration, migratory, militarily, military, mineral, minimal, minimise, minimize, minimum, ministerial, ministry, minor, minorities, minority, missile, mobility, mode, model, modern, modification, modified, modify, molecular, molecule, momentum, monetary, monitor, monitoring, monopolise, monopoly, moral, morality, morally, morals, morphology, mortality, motivate, motivated, motivating, motivation, motive, movement, multiplication, multiply, mutation, mutual, mutually, myth, naked, nasty, natural, neat, necessarily, necessary, necessitate, necessity, negative, neglect, network, networked, neutral, neutralise, neutrality, new, niche, noble, node, noisy, norm, normal, normalisation, normalise, normality, normally, norms, notably, notation, note, notion, notions, nuclear, nucleus, number, objection, objective, objectively, observation, observe, observer, obtain, obvious, obviously, occupation, occupational, occupy, occur, occurrence, odd, oddly, odds, offset, often, ongoing, operate, operation, opportunity, opt, option, optional, oral, organisation, organism, orient, orientate, orientation, original, originally, other, outcome, outcomes, outer, outline, output, overall, overcome, overlap, overlapping, overseas, overview, painful, painfully, panel, paradigm, paradigmatic, paradox, paragraph, parallel, parallels, parameter, parameters, parent, parental, parenthesis, part, partial, partially, participant, participate, participating, participation, participatory, particle, particular, particularly, partner, partnership, passive, past, pattern, perceive, perceived, percent, percentage, perception, perform, period, periodic, permanent, permit, persist, persistence, persistent, persistently, person, personality, perspective, pest, phase, phenomena, phenomenon, philosopher, philosophical, philosophy, physical, physically, physician, physics, plug, point, pole, policy, population, portfolio, portion, portray, portrayal, pose, position, positive, positively, possess, possibility, possible, poster, potential, potentially, powder, practical, practice, practitioner, practitioners, precedent, preceding, precipitation, precise, precisely, precision, predator, predict, predictable, predicted, prediction, predominantly, prejudice, preliminary, presence, present, preserve, pressure, presumably, presume, presumed, presumption, prevalence, prevent, previous, previously, prey, primarily, primary, prime, primitive, principal, principally, principle, principled, prior, prioritise, priority, probe, problem, procedural, procedure, proceedings, proceeds, process, processing, processor, produce, producer, production, productive, productivity, professional, professionally, profound, profoundly, programme, progress, progression, progressive, progressively, prohibit, prohibited, prohibition, prohibitive, project, projected, projecting, projection, prominent, promote, promoter, promotion, pronounce, property, proportion, proportional, proportionately, propose, proposition, prospect, prospective, protection, protocol, prove, provide, provision, psychological, psychologically, psychologist, psychology, publication, publicly, publish, published, publisher, publishing, punch, punish, purchase, purchaser, purchasers, purely, purpose, pursue, pursuing, pursuit, qualitative, qualitatively, quality, quantitative, quantity, question, questionnaire, quotation, quote, quoted, radiation, radical, radically, radius, rainfall, random, randomly, range, rapid, rate, ratio, rational, rationalise, rationality, react, reaction, reactionary, reactive, reactor, reader, readily, real, realism, realistic, reality, reason, receive, recent, recently, recipe, recognise, recognition, reconstruct, reconstruction, record, recover, recovery, recreate, reduce, reduction, refer, reference, refine, refined, refinement, reflect, regard, regime, region, regional, regionally, register, registered, registration, regulate, regulated, regulation, regulations, regulatory, rehabilitation, reinforce, reinforced, reinforcement, reinforcing, reject, rejected, rejection, relate, related, relation, relationship, relative, relatively, relax, relaxation, relaxed, relaxing, release, released, relevance, relevant, reliability, reliable, reliably, reliance, reluctant, rely, remain, removable, removal, remove, render, replace, replacement, report, represent, representative, reproduce, reproduction, republic, require, required, requirement, requirements, research, researcher, resemblance, resemble, reservoir, residence, resident, residential, residue, resist, resistance, resolution, resolve, resource, resourceful, resources, respect, respond, respondent, response, responsible, responsive, restoration, restore, restored, restrain, restrained, restraint, restraints, restrict, restricted, restriction, restrictive, restructure, restructuring, result, retain, retained, retention, retentive, retrieve, reveal, revealed, revealing, revelation, revenue, reverse, reversible, review, revise, revised, revision, revolution, revolutionary, rhetoric, rhythm, ridiculous, rigid, rigidity, rise, risk, ritual, robot, role, rotation, route, rub, rule, sample, scale, scenario, schedule, scheduled, schematic, scheme, scientific, scope, search, secondary, section, sector, secure, secured, security, sediment, seek, select, selected, selection, selective, semantic, seminar, sensation, sense, sensible, sensitivity, separate, separately, separation, sequence, sequential, series, service, set, severe, severity, sex, sexual, sexuality, sexually, shallow, shift, show, significance, significant, significantly, signify, similar, similarity, similarly, simple, simplify, simply, simulate, simulation, single, site, situate, situation, skill, slot, so-called, social, socially, society, sole, solely, solution, solve, solvent, somewhat, source, space, spatial, special, specific, specifically, specification, specified, specify, specimen, spectrum, sphere, spherical, spray, spread, stability, stable, stadium, stance, standard, standardise, state, statistic, statistical, statistically, statistics, status, stereotype, stimulate, stimulus, straightforward, strand, strata, strategic, strategically, strategies, strategy, strengthen, stress, stressed, stressful, strict, stripe, strongly, structural, structurally, structure, structured, study, style, styles, stylish, subject, subjective, submission, submit, subordinate, subordination, subsequent, subsequently, subsidiary, subsidise, subsidised, subsidy, substantial, substitution, subtle, success, successful, succession, successive, successor, suffer, sufficiency, sufficient, sufficiently, suggest, suitable, sum, summarise, summary, super, superior, supplement, supplementary, supply, support, surplus, surprising, survey, survival, survive, surviving, survivor, suspend, suspended, suspension, sustain, sustainable, sustained, sustenance, syllable, syllabus, symbol, symbolic, symbolically, synthesis, system, systematic, systematically, tackle, tape, tapes, target, task, team, technical, technically, technique, techniques, technological, technology, temporarily, temporary, tempt, tend, tendency, tense, tension, term, terminal, terminate, termination, terminology, text, textbook, texts, textual, theme, theorem, theoretical, theoretically, theorist, theory, thesis, thickness, thread, threshold, tolerance, topic, topical, total, toxic, trace, traceable, tradition, traditional, traditionally, trait, transaction, transcription, transfer, transferable, transferred, transform, transformation, transit, transition, transitional, transitory, translation, transmission, transmit, transport, treat, treaty, tremendous, trend, trends, triangle, tropical, tutor, type, typical, typically, ultimate, ultimately, unambiguous, unambiguously, unapproachable, unattainable, unaware, uncertainty, unconstitutional, unconventional, undergo, underlying, undermine, understanding, undertake, undertaking, unemployed, unemployment, unified, uniform, uniformly, unintelligent, unique, uniquely, unit, unity, unlike, unlikely, unprecedented, unreliable, unrestricted, unsuccessful, upward, usage, use, useful, utility, utterance, vague, vaguely, valid, validate, validity, valuable, value, valve, variable, variables, variance, variant, variation, varied, variety, various, vary, varying, vegetation, vehicle, vein, velocity, version, vertical, via, view, violate, violation, virtual, virtually, virtue, visible, visibly, vision, visual, visually, vital, vitamin, vocabulary, volume, voluntarily, voluntary, volunteer, vowel, welfare, wholly, wide, widely, widespread, wisdom, work, workshop, world, write, yield.



You can further boost your understanding of common collocates of AWL words by playing the Collocation Game and test your knowledge of these words by taking the AWL Vocabulary Quizzes.

* Paquot, M. (2010). Academic Vocabulary in Learner Writing: From Extraction to Analysis. London & New-York: Continuum, 56-58.