AWL Collocation 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")

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).

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.

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.