relationship

American  

[ri-lay-shuhn-ship] / rɪˈleɪ ʃənˌʃɪp /

noun

• relationships
  plural

1. a connection, association, or involvement.

   Synonyms:

   kinship, alliance, dependence

2. connection between persons by blood or marriage.

   Synonyms:

   consanguinity, affinity

3. an emotional or other connection between people.

   the relationship between teachers and students.

4. a sexual involvement; affair.

---

relationship British  

/ rɪˈleɪʃənʃɪp /

noun

1. the state of being connected or related

2. association by blood or marriage; kinship

3. the mutual dealings, connections, or feelings that exist between two parties, countries, people, etc

   a business relationship

4. an emotional or sexual affair or liaison

5. 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

• prerelationship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• relationships
  plural

Etymology

Origin of relationship

First recorded in 1735–45; relation + -ship

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relationship relationships

“In a persistently challenging market environment, the company continues to consistently pursue its value-oriented sales strategy and maintain a balanced relationship between supply and demand,” it said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

"If the relationship between the stakeholders doesn't change, we risk a repeat of these difficulties and the consequences could be even more regrettable," he wrote.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

Minka Kelly and Dan Reynolds have ended their four-year relationship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Dating and relationship coach Kate Mansfield, says money conversations "should start much earlier than many people think".

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Ethnomusicology, at its foundation, examines the relationship between music and culture.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

And many of the investment firms launching new leveraged ETFs are startups themselves and lack longstanding relationships with banks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

She has also teamed up with Steve Speirs in a six-part comedy series called Better Later, about the challenges of relationships in middle age.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

“We were essentially starting over every year with the creative process, with the production process and with building new relationships with sponsors,” Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego said in a separate interview.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

If human disturbance makes it easier for new "invaders" to enter these relationships, even when those species are native, other mutualistic partnerships could also become destabilized.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Did they have monogamous relationships and nuclear families?

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• accord
• affair
• communication
• contact
• exchange
• liaison
• link
• marriage
• rapport
• relation
• tie