Synonyms

connect

American

[kuh-nekt] / kəˈnɛkt /

verb (used with object)

to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind.

to connect the two cities by a bridge; Communication satellites connect the local stations into a network.

Antonyms:

sunder, divide
to establish communication between; put in communication.

Operator, will you please connect me with Mr. Jones?
to have as an accompanying or associated feature.

pleasures connected with music.
to cause to be associated, as in a personal or business relationship.

to connect oneself with a group of like-minded persons; Our bank is connected with major foreign banks.

Antonyms:

dissociate
to associate mentally or emotionally.

She connects all telegrams with bad news.
to link to an electrical or communications system; hook up.

to connect a telephone.

verb (used without object)

to become connected; join or unite.

These two parts connect at the sides.
(of trains, buses, etc.) to run so as to make connections (often followed bywith ).

This bus connects with a northbound bus.
Informal. to have or establish successful communication; make contact.

I connected with two new clients today.
Informal. to relate to or be in harmony with another person, one's work, etc..

We knew each other well but never connected.
Slang. (of a drug dealer or user) to make direct contact for the illegal sale or purchase of drugs, as narcotics.
Sports. to hit successfully or solidly.

The batter connected for a home run. The boxer connected with a right.

adjective

of or relating to a connection or connections.

connect charges for a new cable television channel.

connect British

/ kəˈnɛkt /

verb

to link or be linked together; join; fasten
(tr) to relate or associate

I connect him with my childhood
(tr) to establish telephone communications with or between
(intr) to be meaningful or meaningfully related
(intr) (of two public vehicles, such as trains or buses) to have the arrival of one timed to occur just before the departure of the other, for the convenient transfer of passengers
informal (intr) to hit, punch, kick, etc, solidly
informal (intr) to be successful
slang (intr) to find a source of drugs, esp illegal drugs

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What are other ways to say connect?

To connect is to link or fasten together, as two cities by a bridge. How is connect different from join and unite? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of connect

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin connectere, equivalent to con- “with, together” + nectere “to tie”; see con-, nexus

Explanation

Connect means to join together. When a puzzle piece fits into another, they connect. You might fly to Chicago and then connect to a flight to LA. When you meet someone and feel comfortable with them right away, you connect. The uses of connect continue. A receptionist connects you to the person you want to speak to on the phone. When you are assembling something, you are often told to connect tab A to slot B. When you punch someone, your fist connects with their face. You might not connect a movie with a historical event until your teacher points it out.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing connect

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com-, con-

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

connect connects connected connecting

Their work represents the first systematic attempt to connect nearly all plague genomes currently available from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries with outbreaks described in historical records.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

The indium phosphide-based lasers are used inside optical transceivers, which connect networking equipment and transmit data across data centers.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

We try and answer the question: Do fans today want to connect with singers who share their political views?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

"This is what a World Cup is for, to connect with people and give them experiences that they do not forget. It makes me proud."

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

I get Mama’s iPad from the family room, where she charges it, take a deep breath, and try to connect with Zohra.

From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan

The new framework connects these small, local interactions with movement occurring across much larger areas.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

Each day, roughly 300 ships transit the waterway, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Scale-up networking connects several processors together to work as a singular, more powerful chip.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Check out: Tioga Road, which connects the park’s high country to Interstate 395 and the eastern Sierra, closes with the first heavy snowfall, usually in November.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

He wants to take me away from what connects me.

From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

The findings add new detail to plague outbreaks connected with the Great Northern War.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

On the day we connected by phone, she expected a lot of activity in her Malibu home, including air-conditioning repairers and the usual four or five yapping dogs.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

Latina voters are also more connected with the broader immigrant community through involvement in churches and PTA groups, she noted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Several of the women were found partially clothed and with injuries, but police have stressed that they have not established whether all the deaths are connected or whether a serial killer is responsible.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

She took us to a corridor that connected the kitchen to the rooftop restaurant.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Green Gen hopes to build three major powerline routes connecting onshore windfarms planned by its sister company Bute Energy with the wider grid network.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Many internal IT teams are “spending time on that last mile,” he said, identifying and connecting the required data, for example, and evaluating the system’s performance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

By identifying IL1RAP as a possible therapeutic vulnerability and connecting its activity with treatment response, the researchers have created a foundation for testing the strategy in patients.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026

They’re helping build upon the vision set forth months prior, connecting ambitions of creating a gallery-forward third space with the rotating collections of the brand.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

My uncle had two discrete eyebrows—not a single connecting hair between them—which was deeply reassuring, because I had always worried about growing a Persian Unibrow.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023