association

[uh-soh-see-ey-shuhn, -shee-]

noun

1. an organization of people with a common purpose and having a formal structure.

   Synonyms: band, company, society, union, alliance

2. the act of associating or state of being associated.

3. friendship; companionship.

   Their close association did not last long.

   Synonyms: fellowship

4. connection or combination.

5. the connection or relation of ideas, feelings, sensations, etc.; correlation of elements of perception, reasoning, or the like.

6. an idea, image, feeling, etc., suggested by or connected with something other than itself; an accompanying thought, emotion, or the like; an overtone or connotation.

   My associations with that painting are of springlike days.

7. Ecology.,  a group of plants of one or more species living together under uniform environmental conditions and having a uniform and distinctive aspect.

8. Chemistry.,  a weak form of chemical bonding involving aggregation of molecules of the same compound.

9. touch football.

10. Astronomy.,  stellar association.

association

/ əˌsəʊsɪˈeɪʃən, -ʃɪ- /

noun

1. a group of people having a common purpose or interest; a society or club

2. the act of associating or the state of being associated

3. friendship or companionship

   their association will not last

4. a mental connection of ideas, feelings, or sensations

   association of revolution with bloodshed

5. psychol the mental process of linking ideas so that the recurrence of one idea automatically recalls the other See also free association

6. chem the formation of groups of molecules and ions, esp in liquids, held together by weak chemical bonds

7. ecology a group of similar plants that grow in a uniform environment and contain one or more dominant species

association

1. A large number of organisms in a specific geographic area constituting a community with one or two dominant species.

Other Word Forms

• associational adjective
• interassociation noun
• nonassociation noun
• nonassociational adjective
• proassociation adjective
• pseudoassociational adjective
• reassociation noun
• subassociation noun
• subassociational adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of association¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French, from Medieval Latin associātiōn-, stem of associātiō “accompaniment, unification”; equivalent to associate + -ion

Example Sentences

Raanan, 63, is the founder of an association seeking to "build a bridge" between religious and secular Jews in Israeli society.

Read more on Barron's

“This was a period in English culture before blackness acquired its fatal association with slavery,” he writes, identifying a “certain strain of indifference to color” in the thinking of the time.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Other behavioral traits, such as agitation or anxiety, did not show the same association.

Read more on Science Daily

Even after accounting for important contributors such as obesity, age and high blood pressure, the investigators still found a clear association between untreated sleep apnea and Parkinson's disease.

Read more on Science Daily

In September, an Andalusian association representing breast cancer sufferers, Amama, brought the scandal to public attention following warnings from some of its members.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• club 
• company 
• cooperative 
• corporation 
• federation 
• guild 
• league 
• organization 
• partnership 
• society 
• tribe 
• union