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

Authorities have been probing various cyclospora outbreaks as if they are distinct, but it is possible they are related and investigators so far haven’t been able to connect them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

When she started sharing the friendlessness of her circumstances on social media, an audience began to connect.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

He explained that ServiceNow has made it its specialty to lodge itself between a number of different applications and connect separate software platforms, which sets the company up to implement agents across an organization.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

Advanced computer simulations and theoretical models were then used to interpret the experimental signals and connect them with the underlying electronic and structural changes.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

The computer down there didn’t even connect to the internet.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The narrow waterway connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and, via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

Yuntianhua may be the one Chinese company that connects Washington’s worries about China’s role in agriculture with the Hormuz fertilizer squeeze.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

Here’s how it connects to upcoming MCU installments “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Secret Wars.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Lloyd’s, which connects thousands of insurance buyers and sellers in scores of countries, says it wants to set the highest standards of corporate governance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Madrina always said that love connects two people in ways that we can’t even see, but we feel it.

From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi

I remember Phoebe Waller-Bridge once said something about why people connected to the Hot Priest so much in Fleabag.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

The long follow-up period connected genomic research at the Sanger Institute with routine patient care at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

"That can create this false expectation that you have to be socially happy and connected all the time."

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

Chen said he had no idea what that information could have been, or if the killing was even connected to the business dispute.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

But for now I wondered if the destiny I was following was connected to my real name or only the bit of the name I knew.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

By connecting non-inertial quantum effects with measurable particle behavior, the work opens a new direction for studying matter governed by the strong interaction.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

At the Vidin-Calafat bridge connecting Bulgaria and Romania across the Danube, Bulgarian fishermen complained of being out of work because the low water levels had trapped their boats onshore.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

That often means reading, researching and connecting ideas outside of working hours.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

On his June 2026 song “We Know the Truth,” he rejected allegations connecting him to the killing and said he learned after arriving to perform at the festival that someone had been stabbed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

I was now training more than thirty-five hours each week, with an intense focus on strength, conditioning, and connecting my skills to ensure that the whole routine looked effortless.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

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