affiliate

American  

[uh-fil-ee-eyt, uh-fil-ee-it, -eyt] / əˈfɪl iˌeɪt, əˈfɪl i ɪt, -ˌeɪt /

verb (used with object)

• affiliates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• affiliated,
  past participle,  past
• affiliating
  present participle

1. to bring into close association or connection of action or interest: You can download resources to affiliate your event with our fundraising campaign.

   The research center is affiliated with the university.

   You can download resources to affiliate your event with our fundraising campaign.

2. to attach or unite (oneself or another person) in fellowship or membership; associate (usually followed by with in U.S. usage, by to in British usage).

   He affiliated himself with almost every group dedicated to improving the economic condition of the individual farmer.

   Some of the Greek mixed-faith families affiliated their children to Orthodox Christianity, others to Islam.

3. to trace the descent, derivation, or origin of.

   Competing hypotheses affiliate the language with either Afroasiatic or Nilo-Saharan.

4. to integrate or extend membership to; adopt (as an affiliate).

   The National Golf Federation affiliated the club, giving it an immediate prestige.

5. to connect or associate in thought.

   Many people tend to affiliate the sciences with better pay and job security.

6. Law. to fix the paternity of, as an illegitimate child.

   The mother affiliated her child upon John Doe.

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verb (used without object)

• affiliates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• affiliated,
  past participle,  past
• affiliating
  present participle

1. to associate oneself; be intimately united in action or interest.

   Our health advocacy group affiliates with hospitals equipped with the best facilities.

noun

• affiliates
  plural

1. a branch organization.

2. Commerce.

   1. a business concern in which a larger concern owns a minority stake, or in which a third concern, the parent of both, owns a majority stake or has been given control by contract.

      The video was reportedly broadcast on STV, an affiliate of Global Television, on September 30, 1999.

   2. (especially in online retail) a company that retails goods on behalf of one or more other companies, paying them a commission.

      Cookies are used to track a customer's progress from the website of the affiliate through to the shopping cart of the merchant.

   3. (in U.S. tax law) subsidiary.

      Development Tax Credits are not available for property owned by the taxpayer or an affiliate prior to July 3, 2000.

3. a person who is affiliated; associate; subordinate.

affiliate British  

verb

1. (tr; foll by to or with) to receive into close connection or association (with a larger body, group, organization, etc); adopt as a member, branch, etc

2. (foll by with) to associate (oneself) or be associated, esp as a subordinate or subsidiary; bring or come into close connection

   he affiliated himself with the Union

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noun

1. 1. a person or organization that is affiliated with another

   2. ( as modifier )

      an affiliate member

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• affiliation
  noun
• nonaffiliate
  noun
• preaffiliate
  noun
• preaffiliate
  verb
• reaffiliate
  verb
• affiliable
  adjective
• affiliative
  adjective
• nonaffiliating
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• affiliates
  plural

Participles

• affiliating
  present
• affiliated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• affiliate
  simple
• affiliates
  simple
• have affiliated
  perfect
• has affiliated
  perfect
• am affiliating
  progressive
• are affiliating
  progressive
• is affiliating
  progressive
• have been affiliating
  perfect progressive
• has been affiliating
  perfect progressive

Past

• affiliated
  simple
• had affiliated
  perfect
• was affiliating
  progressive
• were affiliating
  progressive
• had been affiliating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will affiliate
  simple
• will have affiliated
  perfect
• will be affiliating
  progressive
• will have been affiliating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of affiliate

First recorded in 1755–65; from Latin affīliātus “adopted as son” (past participle of affīliāre ), equivalent to af- af- + fīli(us) “son” + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

An affiliate is a subordinate group or organization associated with a larger group or organization. For example, the American broadcasting company NBC has hundreds of affiliate stations around the country. Affiliate comes from the Medieval Latin term affiliat, meaning "adopted as a son," though it's unlikely NBC sees its affiliate companies in quite that way. The word can also be used to describe someone who simply hangs out with someone else a lot, or keeps company with them regularly, whether for business or not.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

affiliate affiliates affiliated affiliating

"I'm the Book Lady to lots of kids, and I take great pride in that," she once said in an interview with NBC's Boston affiliate.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

He is in his third season with the Padres and served as bench coach for their Class-A affiliate in Lake Elsinore in 2024.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Lending to so-called affiliate entities—those with ties to the insurer’s owner—is allowed, as long as the loans are disclosed and don’t exceed certain limits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

On Thursday, the court sentenced him to life in prison and fined Evergrande Group and an affiliate more than $2 billion.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

She accepted as a representative of the Daughters of Temperance, the women’s affiliate group.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

And as he pops in on affiliates, the Dodgers also see the time he spends with their outfield prospects — the biggest strength of their farm system — as invaluable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Sinclair is in negotiations with Disney on deals for its other ABC affiliates that do carry local news programming, people familiar with the talks said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Pathstone and its affiliates may have positions in or provide advisory services related to securities or strategies discussed herein.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

Bonta and other plaintiff states argued the consolidation would lead to local newsrooms shuttering, particularly in smaller markets, such as Sacramento and Indianapolis, where Nexstar would own multiple network affiliates.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

I'm emailing folks at CNN, MSNBC, the networks, local and regional affiliates.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

It also shifts “income between consumers of tradable goods and producers of tradable goods,” writes Michael Pettis, a China expert affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

At least 16 women are among those executed and at least 13 "political prisoners" affiliated with banned opposition groups, it said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

A separate Public Citizen complaint alleges that neither Presler nor his affiliated super PAC registered lobbying disclosures for activity promoting the measure on Capitol Hill.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

"This discovery has crucial implications for our understanding of the early universe," said Leja, who is also affiliated with The Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

This time Gey took a harder stance, perhaps because Davidson wasn’t affiliated with one of Gey’s major funding organizations, as Berg was.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

TXSE’s pitch to companies is that affiliating with the state of Texas is the smart business play.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

While still being formulated, it is thought the proposal could involve a local administration of technocrats drawn from Palestinians in Gaza, without affiliating to factions including Hamas.

From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025

Unaffiliated voters must sign a document affiliating with the party and affirming that they have not participated in any other party’s nominating contest this year.

From Seattle Times ● May 17, 2024

But some judicial ethics experts criticized the justice for affiliating herself with an advocacy group.

From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2023

But what economically affluent group was ever consistently radical, affiliating itself with the aspirations of the poor?

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• branch
• partner