Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday March 7, 2007
collegial \kuh-LEE-jee-uhl; -juhl\ , adjective:
1. Characterized by or having authority or responsibility shared equally by each of a group of colleagues.
2. Characterized by equal sharing of authority especially by Roman Catholic bishops.
3. Of or relating to a college or university; collegiate.
4. Characterized by camaraderie among colleagues.
These collaborations also tend to be collegial, with the leader perceived as one among equals, rather than as one in possession of unique skills or knowledge.
-- Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration
Through Marshall's own instinct for building consensus and, most important, through the power of collegial discussion, the Justices of that era overcame sharp divisions and succeeded in separating the interests of the Court and of the Constitution from politics.
-- Edward Lazarus, Closed Chambers
[The council] imparted legitimacy to a more democratic or collegial form of church governance, and thus reopened the debate on papal infallibility which Pope Pius IX had attempted definitively to resolve a century earlier at the First Vatican Council.
-- Michael W. Cuneo, The Smoke of Satan
His eccentricities were easily accommodated in the . . . collegial climate.
-- Carole Klein, "Red Brick and Brownstone: A Literary Tour of Gramercy Park", New York Times, March 13, 1988
Collegial comes from Medieval Latin collegialis, "of or relating to colleagues," from Latin collegium, "an association," from collega, "a colleague, one chosen with [col- for con-, 'with'] another, a partner in office," from con- + legare, "to send or choose as deputy," from lex, legis, "law."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for collegial
