relationship
Americannoun
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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
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the state of being connected or related
-
association by blood or marriage; kinship
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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:
For years, he was in a deeply troubled relationship with someone who brought a great deal of chaos into his life.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
McLaren have proved they can win titles as a customer team, but they have also had frustrations with their Mercedes relationship this year.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Let’s hope, if your friend’s relationship was as troubled as you say, he does not get further involved with that individual and sign a marriage contract.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Chen said Aikebaer had served as the “middleman” between Panshi and the developers, and until the day of the shooting, he believed the two men had a good relationship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
They longed for a relationship with some big Wall Street trading firm and mentioned the desire to their accountant.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
It signals our friendly intent and can lead to more-significant relationships.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
"It's important we have people in our life and it's important these relationships are positive and nourish our lives," Ding adds.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
“We spent a lot of money setting this up and building our relationships with customers and teams,” Michael Eisenberg said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The researchers examined genomes from individuals around the world and reconstructed the relationships among DNA segments over many generations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Not that I really believe in love or those kinds of relationships anymore...
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
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.
