<old, former, and ex- > colleague | WordReference Forums

My question is whether if "former colleague" is the right term to refer to Robbie who was my colleague in the company five years ago, ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. colleague Threadstarter Molisang Startdate Jun29,2010 M Molisang NewMember NewZealand Chinese InablogpostIampracticingtowriteinEnglish,Ihavewrittenthisstatement:"ThefirsttimeIsawarealhands-freedeviceinusewasfromRobbie,myformercolleague." Myquestioniswhetherif"formercolleague"istherighttermtorefertoRobbiewhowasmycolleagueinthecompanyfiveyearsago,butbothofushadleftthatcompanyafterwardandmovedontoadifferentpathoflife.OrIshoulduse"oldcolleague"?Or"ex-colleague"instead? Thankyouinadvance.   bibliolept SeniorMember NorthernCalifornia AE,Español Either"ex-"or"former"wouldbeappropriate."Old"doesnotnecessarilymeanthatyouarenolongercolleagues,thoughsomewouldreaditthatway.   S sunyaer SeniorMember Chinese biblioleptsaid: Either"ex-"or"former"wouldbeappropriate."Old"doesnotnecessarilymeanthatyouarenolongercolleagues,thoughsomewouldreaditthatway. Clicktoexpand... Whatifthecaseisthatthisformercolleagueisworkingwithmeagainatanothernewcompany?   PaulQ SeniorMember UK English-England Iamwaryofusing"former"with"colleague";colleagueimpliesacertainamountoffriendship,anditisunclearwhether,"Heisoneofmyformercolleagues"meansthatyouhavehadanargumentwithhimorwhetheryouweresimplyinthesameplaceatsometimeinthepast. Whatifthecaseisthatthisformercolleagueisworkingwithmeagainatanothernewcompany? Clicktoexpand... Iwouldsay,"ThatisLingYau,oneofmycolleaguesfromwhenweworkedattheLuckyDragoncompany."or"ThatisLingYau,anoldcolleaguefromtheLuckyDragoncompany."   S sunyaer SeniorMember Chinese PaulQsaid: "ThatisLingYau,anoldcolleaguefromtheLuckyDragoncompany." Clicktoexpand... Itseems"old"ispreferablethan"former".Why?   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top