association Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a formal organization of people or groups of people
    • he joined the Modern Language Association
  2. noun the act of consorting with or joining with others
    • you cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association
  3. 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
  4. noun the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination
    connection; connexion.
    • conditioning is a form of learning by association
  5. noun a social or business relationship
    affiliation; tie-up; tie.
    • a valuable financial affiliation
    • he was sorry he had to sever his ties with other members of the team
    • many close associations with England
  6. noun a relation resulting from interaction or dependence
    • flints were found in association with the prehistoric remains of the bear
    • the host is not always injured by association with a parasite
  7. noun (chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding
  8. noun (ecology) a group of organisms (plants and animals) that live together in a certain geographical region and constitute a community with a few dominant species

WordNet

As*so`ci*a"tion noun
Etymology
Cf. F. association, LL. associatio, fr. L. associare.
Definitions
  1. The act of associating, or state of being associated; union; connection, whether of persons of things. "Some . . . bond of association." Hooker.
    Self-denial is a kind of holy association with God. Boyle.
  2. Mental connection, or that which is mentally linked or associated with a thing.
    Words . . . must owe their powers association. Johnson.
    Why should . . . the holiest words, with all their venerable associations, be profaned? Coleridge.
  3. Union of persons in a company or society for some particular purpose; as, the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a benevolent association. Specifically, as among the Congregationalists, a society, consisting of a number of ministers, generally the pastors of neighboring churches, united for promoting the interests of religion and the harmony of the churches. Porter.

Webster 1913