association
noun
Simple meaning
Being connected together.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhsohseeayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əsoʊsiˈeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The state of being connected together as in memory or imagination
“His association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break.”
countable
The state of being associated; a connection to or an affiliation with something.
The act of consorting with or joining with others
“You cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association.”
A group of persons associated for a common purpose; an organization; society.
uncountable
The act of associating.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The state of being connected together as in memory or imagination
Used this way, association is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“His association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “association of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: association of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Connectednoun
“His association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break.”
Consortingnoun
“You cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association.”
More ways to use association
- “You cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association.”noun
- “Conditioning is a form of learning by association.”noun
- “Flints were found in association with the prehistoric remains of the bear.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Cortical areas that are neither motor or sensory but are thought to be involved in higher processing of information.
Cortical areas that are neither motor or sensory but are thought to be involved in higher processing of information.
A football game in which two teams of 11 players try to kick or head a ball into the opponents' goal.
An association of people to promote the welfare of senior citizens.
A Turkish terrorist group of fundamentalist Muslims with ties to al-Qaeda that operates in Germany.
A Protestant political organization in Northern Ireland.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Aphasia in which the lesion is assumed to be in the association tracts connecting the various language centers in the brain.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.