relationship
Americannoun
-
relationships
plural
-
a connection, association, or involvement.
- Synonyms:
- kinship, alliance, dependence
-
connection between persons by blood or marriage.
- Synonyms:
- consanguinity, affinity
-
an emotional or other connection between people.
the relationship between teachers and students.
-
a sexual involvement; affair.
noun
-
the state of being connected or related
-
association by blood or marriage; kinship
-
the mutual dealings, connections, or feelings that exist between two parties, countries, people, etc
a business relationship
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an emotional or sexual affair or liaison
-
logic maths another name for relation
Synonym Usage
Relationship, kinship refer to connection with others by blood or by marriage. Relationship can be applied to connection either by birth or by marriage: relationship to a ruling family. Kinship generally denotes common descent and implies a more intimate connection than relationship: the ties and obligations of kinship.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of relationship
Explanation
When you're in a relationship, you're emotionally involved or at least connected in some way. If you're related to somebody — your parents, your aunts and uncles, your cousins — you share a family relationship with them. You can also use relationship to describe dealings between various groups, as “Members of the European Union have a relationship of economic interconnectedness,” or “A lease helps define your relationship with your landlord.” You'll also see relationship used with interactions that don't directly involve people. In many of these cases, the word relation is better. For example, in the sentence "We are always looking at the relationship between ticket price and sales," it would be better to use relation.
Vocabulary lists containing relationship
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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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:
“That relationship is what really kind of jump-started USC as a front-runner.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Justin and Dominic talk about their complicated relationship with the film in the 2024 book and documentary Children Of The Wicker Man.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Several agreements on health, transport and energy will be signed on the second day of the visit on Monday, according to a French presidential official, underlining the strength of the Paris-Riyadh relationship.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Now, if you’ll excuse me, somebody in my house—not me—has to go check on the relationship status of Devo and Brittany because somebody in my house—again, NOT ME!—really hopes they get back together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Akira hadn’t said or done anything about climate change because she didn’t want to ruin her relationship with her dad.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Novels from Valeria Luiselli and Katy Simpson Smith explore the connections between human relationships and the deliberate constructions of art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
So seriously, in fact, that he's desperate to make amends for a lyric on the last Killers album, called In Another Life, that made some fans question their relationships.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Modern taxonomy, the science of naming and classifying organisms, increasingly attempts to reflect actual evolutionary relationships by grouping species according to shared ancestry.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Some speculated his success came from useful close relationships, including with the brother of former premier Wen Jiabao.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Everyone seemed to like them, even those who occasionally ate them, and rock bellies collected relationships in the same way squirrels gathered nuts—that is to say, with very little discretion.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
