association

a formal organization of people or groups of people

• “he joined the Modern Language Association”

the act of consorting with or joining with others

• “you cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association”

the state of being connected together as in memory or imagination

• “his association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break”

a social or business relationship

• “a valuable financial affiliation”
• “he was sorry he had to sever his ties with other members of the team”
• “many close associations with England”

the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination

• “conditioning is a form of learning by association”

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”

(chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding

(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