Willing to work together with others; involving people joining forces for a common goal.
From Latin 'cooperari' (co- + operari, 'to work'). 'Operari' comes from 'opus' (work). The suffix '-ive' makes it an adjective. The word entered English in the 1600s as a philosophical concept about joint action.
The cooperative movement was a major economic force starting in the 1800s, where workers or farmers pooled resources to compete fairly against big businesses. Credit unions and farming cooperatives still operate this way today, showing how a single word captured an entire revolutionary economic idea.
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