link
1 Americannoun
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one of the rings or separate pieces of which a chain is composed.
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anything serving to connect one part or thing with another; a bond or tie.
The locket was a link with the past.
- Synonyms:
- connective, connection
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a unit in a communications system, as a radio relay station or a television booster station.
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any of a series of sausages in a chain.
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a cuff link.
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a ring, loop, or the like.
a link of hair.
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Also called hyperlink. Digital Technology.
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an object, as text or graphics, linked through hypertext to a document, another object, etc..
Click on the link below to read the full article.
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the connection between elements linked by hypertext, or the code or tag content required to make such a connection.
The website was full of broken links, typos, and images that failed to load.
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Surveying, Civil Engineering.
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(in a surveyor's chain) a unit of length equal to 7.92 inches (20.12 centimeters).
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one of 100 rods or loops of equal length forming a surveyor's or engineer's chain.
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Chemistry. bond.
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Machinery. a rigid, movable piece or rod, connected with other parts by means of pivots or the like, for the purpose of transmitting motion.
verb (used with or without object)
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links,
present (3rd person singular)
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linked,
past participle, past
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linking
present participle
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to join by or as if by a link or links; connect (often followed byup ).
The new bridge will link the island to the mainland.
The company will soon link up with a hotel chain.
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Digital Technology. to create digital connections between web pages or between elements on web pages using hypertext, or to have such links on or to a web page or electronic document.
The page is linked to my online store.
The essay links to three of my published articles.
noun
noun
noun
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any of the separate rings, loops, or pieces that connect or make up a chain
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something that resembles such a ring, loop, or piece
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a road, rail, air, or sea connection, as between two main routes
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a connecting part or episode
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a connecting piece in a mechanism, often having pivoted ends
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Also called: radio link. a system of transmitters and receivers that connect two locations by means of radio and television signals
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a unit of length equal to one hundredth of a chain. 1 link of a Gunter's chain is equal to 7.92 inches, and of an engineer's chain to 1 foot
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computing short for hyperlink
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an unreliable person or thing within an organization or system
verb
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(often foll by up) to connect or be connected with or as if with links
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(tr) to connect by association, etc
Synonym Usage
See bond 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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linksimple
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linkssimple
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have linkedperfect
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has linkedperfect
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am linkingprogressive
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are linkingprogressive
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is linkingprogressive
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have been linkingperfect progressive
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has been linkingperfect progressive
Past
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linkedsimple
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had linkedperfect
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was linkingprogressive
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were linkingprogressive
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had been linkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of link1
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English link(e), of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Swedish lænker “chain”; cognate with Old Norse hlekkr “link” (plural, “chain”), from hlenkr (unattested); related to Old English hlence “coat of chain mail,” akin to German Gelenk “joint, link”
Origin of link2
First recorded in 1520–30; perhaps special use of link 1; the torches so called may have been made of strands twisted together in chainlike form
Explanation
Before it was the universal word for traveling around the Internet, link was just a connection or a device that connects things, like the links in a chain. Much of what humans do in their day-to-day life involves looking for links — or relationships between people and things. When there is a link, that means two things are connected — such as "the link between smoking and lung cancer." Some people even create links, like butchers who make sausage links and website developers who hyperlink the sites you visit to ensure that you spend far too much time clicking around the Web.
Vocabulary lists containing link
Computer Science and Technology - Introductory
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Computer Science and Technology - Middle School
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Chapter 1: The First Americans
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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:
“It would break the link between contributions and benefits,” Romig said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
The potential move would see the Argentina midfielder link up again with new City boss Enzo Maresca, who was formerly his manager at Chelsea.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
“I then noticed that two of the letters in the website in their link to give the credit card number were reversed.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Understanding this link between craving and consuming is central to understanding addiction.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
The chain had even somehow been spared—not a single link broken.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
About a month before Polestar’s exit announcement, the Commerce Department approved a waiver for Volvo Cars—which has common Chinese ownership and other links to Polestar—to continue selling its vehicles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
While a link between the lateral septum and another region called the hypothalamus is probably responsible for septal rage, the lateral septum links with many other regions with various functions.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
“As AI compute workloads increase in both speed and bandwidth, data-center architects are turning to optical links as a primary means of connectivity,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Fabrizio Foschini, a researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said during earlier decades of war "mining mainly benefited insurgent groups, including the Taliban, and local strongmen with links to corrupt government officials".
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
For all the talk in the late 1920s about the links between genes and identity, the gene itself appeared to possess little identity of its own.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
South Carolina, for instance, has been home to an outbreak linked to about 1,000 cases — considered one of the largest in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
City continue to be linked to another defensive midfielder too in Lille's Ayyoub Bouaddi.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
It is Bezos's first investment in a sports team after he was previously linked with purchasing NFL franchises Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Reports in Mexican media have linked López Beltrán to various corruption schemes, which he has denied.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The otters linked arms to form a raft of furry bodies that undulated with the gently rolling waves.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Since the public rolls don’t include voters’ unique identifiers, people at the lab also knew linking them to HSI’s data would produce mismatches — what the staffer called an “ungodly” number of false positives.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
The findings challenge the long-standing idea that intelligence arises primarily from the sheer number of neurons in the brain and the connections linking them together.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Authorities say there is DNA linking him to the crime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
A new passenger train linking Finland and Sweden has begun running, creating the first rail connection between northern Finland and southern Europe in nearly 40 years.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
But linking my arm in his I will not let Toño go.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
